Celebrating Native Americans in Today’s World

Exploring your
blood quantum
‘THE TWILIGHT SAGA’S’ Does percentage

CHASKE really matter?

Rising stars
SPENCER
FROM RESERVATIONs
Getting deep with
Dark Water Rising

TO RED CARPET

Diabetes
Demystified
Know your risk

Myth
busting
What your kids
are learning about
Native culture
 Contents|
historically
(in)accurate
Learn what schools
are really teaching
students about Native
Americans, and
what’s being done to
make those lessons
more accurate.
60
AIM’s Activism
The legacy of the American
Indian Movement's fight to
preserve Native rights and
culture.
36
Troubling youth
legacy
Learn where Native kids are
behind and how you can help. 12
rooted in the water
An emerging band, Dark
Water Rising, maintains strong
connections to home and
64
heritage.
Double Take
Two students who are the same
age, from the same town and
from the same tribe celebrate
their culture in different ways. 52
4 Earth+Sky
chasing dreams
56
“Twilight” star Chaske
Spencer chats with
Earth+Sky about
family, fortune and his
road to fame.
Defeating Diabetes
Learn about a disease that’s
affecting Natives across
America, and how you can
reduce your risk. 32
Pure Blooded?
How blood quantum affects Natives
both culturally and politically in
mainstream America. 40
Current Events
See what’s happening in Jan., Feb.
and March. 8
Chit Chat
Native Americans answer
questions from people across
the country. 16
Recipe Revision:
corn bread
Earth+Sky transforms a
traditional corn bread recipe
into something fit for the most
modern of palates. 18
Fringe benefits
This spring, Native American-
inspired fashion goes
mainstream. 20
Tepees
A glance back in time at a Native the powwow
American dwelling that is now
symbolic of the culture and then and now
survives in modern times. 14
How these
Hiking into history gatherings are staying
Visiting the Effigy Mounds the same, and staying
National Park connects the in touch with tradition.

68
modern and ancient worlds. 22

These months
What event had an impact on your
culture a hundred years ago today?
Check out our detailed timeline of
these three months in history. 11

Organizations
passport to That Help! On the
nowhere This month, Earth+Sky profiles the warpath
Association on American Indian
against

28
Affairs, an 85-year-old advocacy
program that aims to preserve
culture and language. 62 crime
Government and
tribes creating a new
Sharing the Sweat tradition.

24
Lodge
One lacrosse team’s struggle to One summer camp adopts a
compete raises awareness about Lakota spiritual tradition, aiming
tribal sovereignty. to teach children about your
culture. 48

The Three Sisters

clay The story behind three foods that peyote
have cultural and literal roots in
Traditions Native American society. 74
Explore the
different

70
ways this
Storyteller’s spineless
Corner cactus
Earth+Sky presents a traditional is used
trickster tale and talks with a culturally
teller. 82 and
specifically
A Melodic History within the
Earth+Sky sits down with Senora

Lynch, one of North Carolina’s
most prominent Native American
artists.
44
The Native American flute has Native
been a staple in traditions and American
ceremonies for hundreds of years. church.
What is its significance today? 76

WINTER+Spring 2011 5
 Letter from the editors

Welcome!
W
hat does your heritage
mean to you? If you take
pride in your cultural back-
ground, as one of our edi-
tors does, then you might have noticed the
Editorial Staff same absence in the magazine rack that she
Latisha Catchatoorian did. While African-Americans, Latinos and
Emily Evans Caucasians are splashed across covers at the
Kelsey Finn grocery store, she realized that her Native
Laura Hoxworth American identity was absent from the
Alex Linder
Anna Norris
glossy publications. Her heritage matters
Lauren Ratcliffe to her, just as it matters to others who share
Jacqueline Scott Native American roots, and she wanted
something tangible that represented the
Art Director pride she has in her roots.
Nick Yarbrough Earth + Sky aims to help fill the hole. Since
Native Americans have little presence in
Design Staff an ever-growing market of publications, we
Elizabeth Choe realize that this magazine presents both a
Sara Creef challenge and an opportunity: the opportu-
Brittney Jeffries nity to celebrate a people commonly misun-
derstood and frequently under the radar. We
Contributors embrace this opportunity with excitement.
Alex Pegg The name Earth+Sky is derived from
Mother Earth and Father Sky, as many
Advertisments Native people feel reverence toward their
Courtesy of traditions and their homeland. It also
The American Indian College Fund represents being grounded in your roots
while embracing your dreams. Earth+Sky
e recy
is focused on celebrating Native Americans
as
in today’s world.
cl
ple
you can trace your Native American roots
back through several generations or you are
just curious to learn more about Native cul-
ture, Earth+Sky was born out of a mission
to serve you and to address the political and
cultural issues you face. It’s about merging
your heritage with mainstream society and
looking at some of the interesting things
you are doing and thinking about.
To do this, we will look each quarter at
how your culture is evolving and how it’s
retaining tradition. We will look at your role
in mainstream society: your diversity and
your individuality, as well as what unifies
you as Native American people.
We will feature stories about people and
places, politics and race, recipes and fash-
ion. And while we won’t hesitate to tackle
topics with sensitive content, we aim to
represent Native American people in the
positive light they deserve. We will address
both the achievements and the problems
(and their possible solutions) of a modern
society linked to America’s first people. The
sky is our limit, but like the roots of a tree,
we will stay grounded in the earth and the
issues that matter to you, our reader.
At Earth + Sky, we have made a commit-
ment to never stop exploring what your heri-
tage means. We’re excited to be serving you
and are looking forward to what’s next. So

Whether you live on a sprawling reserva- here’s to the start of a cultural celebration,
tion or in the heart of Manhattan, whether but most of all: Here’s to you, our readers.
th

is
m a g a zi
n

sincerely

WINTER+Spring 2011 7
 |
C u r r e n t

Events

These great opportunities to connect with your tribal community

and beyond with some of the biggest events for Native Americans
that are taking place across the country in upcoming months.
-Anna Norris

Indian Craft Market and

The Dishchii' Bikoh' Apache Group from
Cibecue, Ariz., demonstrates the Apache
Crown Dance.
International Day
Rillito Raceway Park, Tucson, Ariz.
The Pasqua Yaqui Deer Dancers, Nahui Ollin Aztec Dancers and the
Mountain Apache Crown Dancers are just a few of the 50-plus tribes
that will be performing tribal dances. There will also be singing and
drum contests outside of scheduled performances. Traditional food
stands will also be on hand to satisfy your appetite. Information
booths will provide powwow schedules for the upcoming year, as
well as news pertaining to Native Americans.

11th Annual Morning Star Powwow

John Carroll School, Bel Air, Md.
Created in 2001, this annual powwow benefits St. Labre Indian
School in Ashland, Mont. St. Labre has a campus for Cheyenne
and Crow families on the grounds of three different primary and
secondary schools in Montana. Funds will aid St. Labre and help
the greater Native American community in the central Atlantic area.
Featuring more than 20 drum groups, more than 100 dancers and Participants in
20 traders, the powwow has become a community staple, drawing the Moring Star
more than 2,000 spectators in years past. The public is invited to Powwow.
experience this cultural and educational event.

8 Earth+Sky
 Estun-Bah
drummer
Jeremy Meyer
performing
a traditional
dance.

9th Annual Red Paint Powwow

Grant County Business and Conference Center,
Silver City, N.M.
The Red Paint Powwow features dance competitions in recognition
of the Chihene Apache, who live in southwestern New Mexico.
Tribal dancers from across the country will wow audiences in a
number of dance categories, all accompanied by native drummers
and singers. Handmade native products will also be available for
sale throughout the powwow.

37th Annual Denver March Powwow

Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colo.
Featuring storytelling, along with both intertribal and contest danc-
ing, the Denver March Powwow has become a tradition, bringing
tribes from Colorado and beyond. Events will be led by a designated
powwow princess, a young woman who has shown to be especially
concerned with leadership skills and community involvement in
her tribe.

Derek Miller, Mohawk,

lead singer in the rock
group Derek Miller and
participant in the 2009
15th Native American Film & Video Film Festival.
Festival
Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian, New York, N.Y.
The first international indigenous film festival aims to celebrate the
creativity of short works and feature films from Native American
The National
directors, producers, writers, actors and musicians from North,
Museum of the
Central and South America. The festival will screen between 50 and American Indian.
80 documentaries, short films and animations. All selections will be
chosen by a team of Native American media specialists and cultural
activists from across the Americas. The festival is organized by the
Film and Video Center of the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Museum of the American Indian.

WINTER+Spring 2011 9
 |
T h e s e m o n t h s i n

HISTORY jan • feb • mar

Jan 1, 1889
Wovoka, a Northern Paiute religious leader, claims a prophetic
vision during the solar eclipse and founds the Ghost Dance
movement, which was incorporated into numerous Native
January American belief systems.
1 2 3 4 5

Jan 9, 1942
A government press release says 40 percent more Native
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Americans have enlisted to fight in World War II than have
been drafted. Twenty-five thousand Native Americans
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 served in the U.S. armed forces, including 800 women.

Jan 15, 1877

20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Standing Bear, a Ponca chief living in Nebraska, refuses
27 28
to move to a reservation. He later argues in an 1879
civil rights case that Native Americans have the rights
Jan 18, 1881 of citizenship.

The Spokane Indian Reservation is

established in eastern Washington.
Feb 3, 1870

February The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified, finally recognizing the right of all
men to vote, including Native Americans.
1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Feb 8, 1887

Congress passes the Dawes Act, dividing reservations

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 into 160-acre parcels allotted to individual Native
Americans. However, the land is held in trust by the
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 government for 25 years.
27 28 29 30 31
Feb 10, 1893

The Campo Indian reservation is established in San Diego County, Calif.

It is home to the Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, a federally
recognized tribe of Kumeyaay people.
Feb 27, 1973

Two hundred activists of the American Indian

Movement take control of Wounded Knee, S.D., in
protest of issues related to Native
American rights.
March
Mar 3, 1849

1 2 3 4 5 The Department of the Interior, which

handles federal relations with Native
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Americans, is created.
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Mar 26, 1804 Mar 16, 1621

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Native Americans make their first

formal contact with English colonists at
27 28 29 30 31 Plymouth, Mass.

Congress orders the removal of Native Americans east of the

Mississippi River to Louisiana.

—Compiled by kelsey Finn

WINTER+Spring 2011 11
 FACTS
FIGURES | Troubling
N
ative Americans are heirs to a rich cultural heritage featuring spiritual dances,
prized weavings and captivating storytelling. Unfortunately, many Native Americans
struggle with a different sort of legacy – a legacy characterized by unemployment,
poverty and low life expectancy.
The 2010 Kids Count Data Book indicates that this burden is not getting any lighter for
future generations. The study, using data from 2007 and 2008, evaluated the well-being of
children nationwide. Native American children ranked last in five of the 10 categories.
-Alex Linder

The Kids Count Data Book is published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation,

10
a national grant-making nonprofit that focuses on improving conditions for children
in the United States.
Categories of Find more information at:
Well-Being http://datacenter.kidscount.org/

6.
1 Percent of low-
birthweight babies
Teen death rate
(deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15-19)
2 Infant mortality rate
(deaths per 1,000 live births)

3 Teen birth rate

(births per 100,000 females ages
15-19)

87
62
American Indian
4 Percent of children living in
poverty
(income below $21, 834 for a
and Alaska Native

family of two adults and two

children) National

5 Percent of children in

7.
single-parent families
Child death rate
(deaths per 100,000 children ages 1-14)

19 28
American Indian
and Alaska Native

ce
National
Photo/Rebecca van

12 Earth+Sky
youth legacy
8.
America’s Third
World?
Teens not in school and not high While these figures are
school graduates alarming, statistics on
some reservations are
(ages 16-19) even more shocking.
Data compiled in 2006

13%
by the Native American
Times about the Pine
Ridge Reservation in
South Dakota resembles

6%
numbers that could be
American Indian found in a third-world
and Alaska Native country.

National 70%
school drop-out rate before
high school graduation

9.
Teens not in school and
not working
(ages 16-19)
83%
unemployment rate

150%
higher teenage suicide rate
than the national average

8% 15% American Indian

and Alaska Native
300%
higher infant mortality rate
than the national average

How to help
National Not many know about the
extreme poverty
conditions in some
reservations, and those
that do realize may not
know what they can do

10.
to help in such remote
Children living in families where places. The Friends of
Pine Ridge Reservation
no parent has full-time, year- (FPRR) helps provide
information so that those
round employment wanting to help can send
donations that will go

27%
directly to assist area
schools and social service
organizations. FPRR
targets specific needs and

44%
makes sure donations are
National made in ways that help
preserve and support
the Lakota culture. Don’t
underestimate the value of
American Indian even one book or blanket.
and Alaska Native Check out what you can
give at:
friendsofpineridgereservation.org

WINTER+Spring 2011 13
 PHOTOS/stock xchng
A look back at a Native American structure
that has captivated attention for years

T
epees were mobile homes made of buffalo hides or canvas
and were mainly used by Plains Indians, including the
Lipan Apache, Comanche and Kiowa. Plains Indian groups
moved across the Great Plains, following migrating herds
of buffalo that roamed from Canada to Texas.
Constructed using an average of 15 poles topped with furs or
canvas, tepees became homes for migrating Native Americans.
Tepees originated as 12-foot-high dwellings and grew to become
18 feet high or more. As the tepee evolved, it became less of a
functional home and more of an art form. Today, the tepee is a
widely regarded symbol of indigenous people.
-Jacqueline scott

1800-
1500s 1520s 1860s 1830s 1875
Hide tepees cropped Following the introduc- Cloth material, Some tribes moved into Buffalo became extinct,
up on the Plains. Their tion of the horse to acquired through trade wigwams – wooden making way for com-
conical construction North America, tepees of furs and hides, was domed dwellings – mercial canvas tepees
mirrored nature: the increased from 12 to introduced. Buffalo during the rainy spring to become the norm.
earth, sky, seasons and 18 feet high or more. hides weighed 50 to months so tepees While many preferred
life. They were mobile Longer and heavier 100 pounds, and while could be repaired or the use of furs and
homes for hunting soci- poles were transported they kept the tepee refurbished with hides hides as in the 1800s,
eties. Tepees could be with ease. Some people warm during winter, collected during fall groups now had no
dismantled and packed began decorating their the spring was swelter- and winter. Well-kept other alternative mate-
in a travois, two long tepee poles with rib- ing. Some intricately records of trading com- rials. Cloth material
poles attached with bons and streamers. painted lodges and panies reveal Native was lightweight, let in
leather straps. Dogs Streamers indicated quilled decorations Americans exchanged light and was easy to
dragged the travois. wind direction, and reveal an emphasis on a furs and crafts for steel put together, allowing
people turned their decorated home despite needles, kettles, pots, tribes to make larger
tepee away from the lack of permanence. pans, vermilion and covers.
wind to avoid effects of steel blades.
windstorms.

14 Earth+Sky
 (Left) 2009
tepee at Peterson
Point Historic
Farmstead, Iowa
(Top Right)
Ernest T. Seton’s
1927 “Handbook
for Boys”
(Bottom Right)
1830s Apache
wigwam

1860- 1890-
1900s 1920s 1927 1972 2008
Reservations offered Tepees become more Ernest T. Seton intro- Guy “Darry” Wood of TV show “Coman-
new housing alterna- formal and emphasize duced Americanized Haysville, N.C., published che Moon: Rangers,
tives. Due to hostilities the home as an art form. tepees to the Boy Scouts his article, “The All- Tramps, and Thieves,”
between tribes, many The Crow, Nez Perce of America. These tepees American Do-It- Yourself set in the 1850s, por-
groups lived a nomadic and Blackfoot lodges all were less authentic and Portable Shelter,” advanc- trayed characters as
life, though intricate had longer tepee poles. more hobbyist. The first ing the tepee design into generic Plains Indians
tepee designs were The Cheyenne, Arapaho, official “Handbook for modern times. His design who wore buckskins
not sacrificed. Details Kiowa and Sioux lodges Boys” contained a section incorporated synthetic and lived in tepees,
included quilled and were lavishly decorated called “American Indian materials like waterproof an accurate depiction
beaded rosettes and with beaded medallions Craft,” which instructed Sunbrella with nylon for most, but not all,
tinklers. Metal tinklers and tinklers on the readers on how to make and polyester. Wood Plains Indians. Native
were often added to the covers. Art was now both tepees, moccasins, tom- engineered the cover Americans are por-
fringe of Native Ameri- inside and outside the toms, and bow and arrow and inside lining to fit trayed as savages who
can dress and accesso- tepee cover. sets. Outdoor camping every angle in the tepee, rape and pillage the
ries due to their musical skills drew inspiration making the cover more Texas settlers.
quality; the tinklers from Native American egg shaped.
bring life by simulating cultures.
rustling wind.

WINTER+Spring 2011 15
 Q
|
n a t i ve

ChiTChat

PRESSURE
TRADITION
IDENTITY LOSS
SOCIETY
TRADITION
HISTORYLOSS
DOMINANCE
CULTUREIDENTITY
PRESSURE
TRIBAL PAIN
SOCIETY
LOSS
PRACTICES
TRADITION
RITUALS
DOMINANCE
HISTORY
TRIBAL
DOMINANCE
SOCIETYIDENTITYCULTURE
TRADITION HISTORY
PRESSURE PRACTICES
DOMINANCE SOCIETY
PAIN IDENTITY
CULTURE
TRIBAL PRESSURE
RITUALS HISTORY
16 Earth+Sky
 Q:“How is Native American identity reconciled
with mainstream white American values? How
do Native Americans see themselves in the
current slew of mainstream American values?”

Abbas Rattani, 22
A: “With the pressure and dominance of white American values, it is
Queens, N.Y. becoming easier for the younger generation to abandon traditional Native
American ways and acculturate into modern society. However, coming
from a large and relatively sovereign nation, the Navajo Nation, along
with a strict Navajo upbringing, I find it easier to live in both worlds while
upholding my tribal values. I have been blessed with the ability to speak
fluent Navajo and practice traditional ways, while still stemming out to get
a higher level of Western education. I hope to return home to encourage
the younger generation to do the same, because choosing to live within
Monnoca Baddonih, 22 one culture will ultimately lead to the loss of the Native American identity.”
Teec Nos Pos, Ariz.
Navajo

Q:“Do Native American families today

practice traditional rituals and medicine? If so,
what are they?”
A: “Although Western medicine is the basis for medical practice and heal-
ing in the country, many American Indian tribes still rely on traditional Richard Wilson, 19
Spanish Fork, Utah
rituals and values that have been tied to their people for many years. Each
American Indian tribe has different beliefs, rituals, practices, culture and
history. Traditional medicine is usually based on each tribe’s specific values,
therefore each traditional ritual varies by specific tribe. For example, the
Lumbee people of North Carolina practice a traditional ritual called “fire
blowing.” This is the ability to blow or talk the pain out of someone’s
wound. My aunt was a fire blower and during my childhood I often saw
her do this to burn-related wounds.”
Shane Locklear, 23
Fairmont, N.C.
Lumbee

Q:“What is the story behind dream catchers?”

A: “The dream catchers that people in contemporary society recognize
originated with the Chippewa people and were eventually adopted by
Native people across the country. The hoop represents life and the world.
Abby Keogh, 21 Oral tradition says that an old man was talking to Spider when Spider
Charlottesville, Va. started to weave a web into the man’s hoops. The spider’s web is the net
that makes up the dream catcher. Bad dreams are caught in the spider’s web
and held there until the morning sun hits them and they are destroyed.
Good dreams go through the holes of the net and travel down either
horsehair or feathers into the dreamer’s mind. There is usually one bead
or stone woven into the web. This stone represents the belief that there is
only one creator. Dream catchers are usually made out of willow branches
or twigs, sinew, horsehair or feathers and a bead or stone.”
Molly Hall-Martin, 22
Spearfish, S.D.
Lower Brule Sioux

Do you have a question about Natives that you want answered? Do you want to reply to one of
these questions or debunk a stereotype? Do you want to start a trending topic? Send your ideas,
questions and commentary to Earth+Sky and be featured in our next issue.
— Latisha Catchatoorian

WINTER+Spring 2011 17
 RECIPE corn bread
R E V ISION |
Estimated time of preparation: 50 minutes
Servings: 12 pieces of corn bread

2 1/2 cups reduced-fat

biscuit/baking mix

3/4 cup cornmeal

Sugar substitute
1
Preheat oven to 350° F.
equivalent to 1/2 cup
sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking Cool on a

soda wire rack
for 15
1/4 teaspoon ground minutes
nutmeg before

6
cutting.
1/4 teaspoon baking Serve
powder warm.

1 egg

1 egg white Pour into a 9-inch

square baking pan
1 eggcup
3/4 white
buttermilk coated with cooking
spray. Bake for 30-35
3/4cup
1/2 cupfat-free
buttermilk
milk minutes, or until a
toothpick inserted in
fat-free milk
1/2 cup unsweetened the center of the bread
comes out clean.

5
applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened
applesauce
3 tablespoons butter,
melted
3 tablespoons butter,
1melted
tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon honey
Corn bread is a staple in many Native American org, proved this very true: One recipe for “Chey-
meals, for good reason. It’s a sturdy, yet crumbly, enne Batter-Bread” called for 1 quart of sweetened
complement to vegetables and stews any time of the condensed milk and 3 eggs, and another recipe for
year. Unfortunately, traditional corn bread recipes traditional fry bread called for half of a cup of sugar
aren’t always the healthiest. A quick search on an and half of a stick of butter. These look more like
online Native American recipe forum, NativeTech. ingredients found in an indulgent dessert—not

18 Earth+Sky
 classic corn bread gets a
healthy, modern makeover

2
In a large bowl, combine
the dry ingredients and
mix well.

In another
bowl, beat
the egg,
egg white,

3
buttermilk,
milk, apple-
sauce, butter
and honey
together with
a whisk.

Pour the bowl of

mixed wet ingredients
into the bowl of dry
ingredients and stir
together until the dry
ingredients are just
moistened.

4
exactly the makings of a nutritious side dish.
Luckily, we’ve created an easy, healthy way for
you to get your corn bread fix without breaking the
caloric bank. Instead of using large amounts of but-
termilk and real sugar, this recipe mixes in healthier
fat-free milk and sugar substitutes to reduce calories
and fat. Surprise ingredients (applesauce and honey)
bring in even more natural sweetness and add a
great texture to the final product. Each piece is 200
calories and contains 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber
and 5 grams of protein, making it a great addition
to a meal or perfect as a light snack.
—Emily Evans, from Tasteofhome.com

WINTER+Spring 2011 19
 FASHION fringe
F USION |
Swing into spring with this flexible look

S
ome fashion trends
come and go faster
than you can blink,
but this spring’s hot-
test look has some serious his-
tory. While most often associ-
ated with the flapper look of
the ’20s or hippie style from the
’60s, fringe is deeply rooted in
Native American culture.
Various tribes originally used
will become a classy but fash-
ionable staple. For a modern The inspiration
twist, keep it fresh by replac-
ing earth tones with bold and
daring brights, and balance
your look with tailored pieces
in crisp solids. Just avoid get-
ting tangled (literally) in too
much of a good thing and stick
to one fringed piece per outfit.
With endless possibilities,

photo/Houston Museum
strips of fabric (usually in suede, fringe is poised to be one of A traditional Lakota dress,
circa 1870, features decorative

of Natural Science
leather or buckskin) for a practi- the most versatile trends of beading and fringe.
cal reason – to help shed rain- the season. But however you
water from clothing. Nowadays, decide to style it, one thing is
fringe is seen mostly as a deco- clear: fringe fever doesn’t look
rative element on traditional like it’s going anywhere soon.
Native American regalia. This
­­—Laura Hoxworth
spring, it’s making a comeback
in haute couture.
So how do you incorporate a
trend with so much history into
a modern wardrobe? Whether The LOOKS
it’s a few sparse strands or a
sweeping swath of strings, this
season’s look is all about fun and 1 3
flirty movement. Depending
on the length, color and fabric,
2
fringe can be tailored, sexy, clas-
sic or daring.
From Gucci’s dark, edgy
leather looks to Ralph Lauren’s
Western-inspired neutrals to
House of Holland’s bright and
breezy beach vibe, fringe swung
and shimmered its way down
the runway in an array of styles
photo/house of holland

during 2010’s London Fashion

photo/roberto Cavalli
photo/ralph Lauren

Week. With so much modern

inspiration, there are count-
less ways to weave this Native
American-inspired trend into
your personal style.
To keep the Native vibe, try
suede or leather fringe on a
simple accessory – fringe works
well on belts, boots or scarves. Fringe ruled the runway in many Spring 2011 collections. [1]House of Holland’s bright
Add a fringe-accented neutral colors bring fringe into the 21st century. [2]Ralph Lauren mixes Western influences with
tote to your wardrobe, and it shimmery fringe. [3]Roberto Cavalli pumps up the glamour in floor-length fringe.

20 Earth+Sky
 |
DESTINATION effigy mounds
Hiking into
History
Earthen mounds connect modern
America to its pre-Colonial past
N
estled in the heartland of the United
States, enormous earthen mounds made
by native tribes pay homage to culture,
tradition and ancestry. Not unlike the
Egyptian pyramids or England’s Stonehenge, these
mounds are the relics of ancient peoples and a cul-
ture too often forgotten. The effigy mounds found in
the Effigy Mounds National Monument were built
between 800 and 1,600 years ago, making them
an important part of the cultural history of North
America. Other ceremonial mounds were built
during what is now called the Woodland Culture,
between 500 B.C. and 1200 A.D. Westward expan-
sion by Europeans into territories of Minnesota,
Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa uncovered these huge
mounds of earth, but by that time the people who
built them were no longer in the area. Many of the
mounds were leveled or plowed for farms, and others
were settled on as a refuge from potential floods.
Two hundred mounds inside the park have been
preserved, and mounds like the effigy monuments
are not found anywhere else in the country.
A trip to the Effigy Mounds National Monument
in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, could be a great first step
in retracing America’s past and connecting with
the ancient. A word of caution: Driving inside the
park isn’t allowed, so the only way to see them is
via hiking. In a one-hour visit to the park, you can
22 Earth+Sky
view a video about the mounds’ history, visit the
museum and walk to three mounds. Those unable
or unwilling to hit the trails have two handicap-
accessible loops to see the mounds. For the more
adventurous, two or three hours will let you hike
a steep two-mile trail to a wider variety of effigy
and mound groups.
The mounds vary in size. Some mounds are
only a few feet high, but all can be seen from the
sky. Others, like the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois,
are hundreds of feet high and several acres wide.
Mounds also come in four types: conical, linear, com-
pound and effigy. Conical mounds were often used
for burial sites, and are the most common mounds
in the park. From above, these mounds appear cir-
cular. Linear and effigy models were ceremonial.
Thirty-one effigies of bears and birds are preserved
in the park. Archaeologists believe the effigies were
meant to point to favored harvest lands, although
no one knows for sure. A lack of human artifacts
in the effigies also points toward ceremonial use,
but because of their prehistoric nature, the exact
ceremonial purpose remains unknown. Compound
mounds combine linear and conical elements and are
believed to have been primarily ceremonial.
So, pack some water and lace up those hiking
shoes, and we’ll see you on the trail.
- Lauren Ratcliffe
 photo/national park service
Two hundred earthen mounds are preserved within the Effigy Mounds National Monument park. Of the mounds, 31 are
effigies in the shapes of bears or birds. They are thought to have marked favored harvest lands or to have been cultural idols.

A guide to the mounds

Conical mounds are the oldest and most numerous mound
type in the area. They date back 2,500 years and are circular
in shape. The mounds range in size and height: they are 10 to
20 feet in diameter and 2 to 8 feet tall. Ancient people used Conical
these mounds as burial sites. They can be found throughout
the eastern United States, especially in the Mississippi and Visiting the Park
Ohio river valleys.
Cost: Free between Nov. 1
and March 31.
Linear mounds are between 2 and 4 feet high, 6 and 8 feet $3 per person otherwise.
across and can be up to 100 feet long. They were built between Linear
1,700 and 1,300 years ago. Hours: Park is open
sunrise to sunset.
Compound mounds are conical mounds joined by linear
mounds. They may mark a transition phase from conical Getting there:
to linear styles. These mounds usually have three or four The park is located along
conical elements, but the largest in the park has seven. Compound the “Great River Road,” or
Linear and compound mounds are only found in the Effigy Highway 76, which runs
Mounds region. along the Mississippi River.
The park itself is about 60
miles south of Interstate
Effigy mounds are mainly found in northeastern Iowa, south-
90 and 130 miles north of
ern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and southeastern Minnesota.
Interstate 80.
Bear and bird mounds are most predominant, but other
shapes exist. A typical effigy is 2 to 4 feet high, 40 feet wide, Bear Effigy For more information,
and 80 feet long. Large bird mounds in the park have wing- and nearby airports, visit
spans of 124 and 212 feet. The Great Bear Mound measures http://www.nps.gov/efmo/
137 feet long and 70 feet wide at the shoulder. planyourvisit/directions.
htm.
SOURCE/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

WINTER+Spring 2011 23
 photo/flickr/phillip c.

Tribes and the government are collaborating in order to

bring law, order and money to help fight reservation crime
“We are taking a monumental step forward in
true nation-to-nation collaboration. It’s exciting
for all of us involved, and it’s a long time coming.”
— Tracy Toulou, the director of the Office
of Tribal Justice.
“I don’t think we have ever witnessed this level
of collaboration between the federal government
and tribes. It’s really invigorating to see happen
and makes me very hopeful.”
— Ada Melton, the director of the American
Indian Development Association.

By Alex Linder like an epiphany from both sides. It seems – more fearsome than any war paint – and

O
ne quote is from a federal official
and another from a local activ-
ist. Their messages are strikingly
similar, in a way that federal and
tribal statements historically have never
been. It’s as if they are reading from identi-
cal cue cards. They even use the same word:
collaboration.
“Collaboration” usually comes off as a
vague, bureaucratic term. Native Americans
remember promised collaborations in the
past that have led to broken promises and an
increasingly strained relationship. But this
time it’s different: Collaboration is spoken
both practical and possible.
American dollars will back up the col-
laborative reform effort up front. A total of
$127 million will be delivered over the next
few years through a new streamlined grant
process that hopes to work to efficiently
give tribes what they need to fight crime
and help victims. It’s another in a trend of
reforms from the federal government dem-
onstrating a commitment to Native issues.
Tribes, officials, experts and police, all
initially skeptical, are starting to fall in
line. They are marking reservations up
with more money and stricter regulations
are standing up together on the warpath
against crime on the reservation.
A cumbersome mess
Hallie Bongar White deals daily with a
justice system that is broken. She is the
executive director of the Southwest Center
for Law and Policy in Tucson, Ariz., an orga-
nization that provides legal training and
technical justice assistance to tribal com-
munities. It’s a busy job, as many tribes have
been ineffective at stopping criminal activ-
ity. Some of the highest crime rates in the
nation are in reservations. The violent crime

24 Earth+Sky
 It’s just crazy. If I go to France and
commit a crime, then I’m not going to be
charged by American police.
rate among Native Americans is 2.5 times
higher than the national rate, according to
the Department of Justice. Some reserva-
tions struggle with serious issues regarding
astronomically high rates of sexual and vio-
lent crimes (see sidebar on Page 26).
The problems start with area and
resources. White says that an average tribal
police force has to patrol an area as large
as Delaware over a much more unfriendly
landscape of deserts, prairies and moun-
tains, and has to do it with only two dozen
officers. “In some reservations, they’ll get
a call and have to drive an hour before they
can get there,” White says. “Once they do get
there, though, another problem comes up.
They don’t know how to investigate.” Tribal
police have been historically understaffed,
underpaid and underequipped.
In 2008 the Associated Press reported
that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had nine
officers to patrol the 2.3 million-acre Stand-
ing Rock reservation. At times, just one offi-
cer was on duty to patrol an area the size of
Connecticut. The BIA found that 2,380 offi-
cers serve an estimated 1.4 million Native
Americans covering over 56 million acres
of tribal land. The bureau estimates that
almost 2,000 more officers are needed to
bring reservations up to the national aver-
age of officers per citizens.
Although the jurisdictional area is typ-
ically too large and policed by too few,
White says the bigger problem is that
tribal land isn’t actually controlled by
tribal police. If a crime committed inside
a reservation is a major felony, it falls to
the FBI or BIA to investigate and pros-
ecute. Tribal police do have jurisdiction of
a misdemeanor committed on their lands,
unless the perpetrator or victim is a non-
Native, in which case it becomes a federal
matter. Determining a person’s race and
tribal status had become an essential
skill used by officers before other crime
fighting basics like investigation. “It’s
just crazy. If I go to France and commit a
crime, then I’m not going to be charged
by American police,” White says. “Tribes
need jurisdiction over their own lands.”
The convoluted system relies on the noto-
riously shaky relationship between federal
and tribal police. White says mutual dis-
trust has led to a lack of information sharing
which has hindered the investigation and
prosecution of numerous crimes. Inves-
tigations don’t turn up enough evidence,
so federal prosecutors decline to try the
case. Violent offenders can walk away or
be charged in tribal court – formerly with
a maximum of just one year in prison or a
$5,000 fine.
Damon Williams, supervising attorney
for the Three Affiliated Tribes, a group of
three tribes based out of the Fort Berthold
Reservation, N.D., says that the dramati-
cally high rates of trial declines, which have
been over half in some violent crimes, are
a complicated concern. “It’s not that attor-
neys don’t want to try the cases and put the
bad guys away,” he says. “It’s just that they
know that there isn’t sufficient evidence
and they will lose.” Besides, they already
have a backlog of cases that are building
up –they’re understaffed too.
Williams says that the problems are shared
equally from police, to prosecutors, to tribal
courts – all need to improve. “Money is some-
thing that we need, but it won’t solve all the
problems,” he says. “We need to get the right
kind of training to make sure that people
know what they are doing.”
White says that this lack of both resources
and authority creates a unique situation of
lawlessness. “Indian country is really like
nowhere else,” she says. “It’s definitely not
like we think of the United States today. It’s
kind of like the Old West.” Only now the
WINTER+Spring 2011 25
 sheriffs look at a suspect’s race first and
ask questions later – maybe.
Despite efforts from justice advocates,
reservation crime has been a persistent and
dangerous issue. “It’s really been a cumber-
some mess of a system,” White says. “It’s
sad because many have moved away fear-
ing these high crime rates, and really little
ends up being known or being done about
the problem.”
A Collaborative Solution
Following years of shocking crime statis-
tics and exhausted calls from experts and
activists, the federal government is making
its move to reach out to tribal leaders and
effectively fight crime on reservations. Not
only has the federal government agreed to
give funds to tribes, but it has also made
it easy for the money to get to the proper
place with the Coordinated Tribal Assis-
tance Solicitation (CTAS) grants. Accord-
ing to Tracey Toulou, the director of the
Office of Tribal Justice, who worked closely
to develop these reforms, the CTAS grants
are a massive overhaul of the former grant
process, which some tribal officials had
described as burdensome.
The CTAS grants were awarded in Septem-
ber 2010 to hundreds of Native American
tribes that filled out applications for aid.
In the application, tribes could select from
10 multiple-purpose areas ranging from
enhancing law enforcement to serving
sexual assault victims. “First, it’s a stream-
lining of the process,” Toulou says. “Second,
it allows for more participation. Miracu-
lously, the result is more specified federal
assistance with less paperwork.”
Ada Melton says that her tribe, the Pueblo
of Jemez in New Mexico, was encouraged
by the process and believes that it helped
tribe officials come together in a great way.
“Really, the process demanded a high degree
of collaboration, and I thought we had to
step up and deliver,” she says.
Collaboration. There’s that word again.
But what does it mean? “Well, it’s about
local and national collaboration,” Melton
says. “The CTAS forced us to get together
and talk about our issues and figure out
how we together could address concerns
for the best for the pueblo, instead of us all
going about it individually and addressing
‘my’ concerns.”
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma received
more than $2 million of the $127 million in
grant money. Most Seminoles were relocated
to Oklahoma following wars against the
United States government and the Treaty of
Payne’s Landing in 1832. More than a century
and a half later the Seminoles and the federal
government are working together.
One area of grant focus was in giving
tribal police the equipment and training
they need to deal with the unique type of
crime on reservations. Seminole Nation
Whitehorse Police Department Capt. Wil-
liam Williams says some of the money will
go toward purchasing two new patrol cars
and to equipping all police vehicles with
computers. Also, the grant will help pur-
chase equipment to improve the county’s
dispatch system. Williams says that before
the grant money, all offices were not even
operating on the same radio frequency.
“These I think are essential tools that
are commonplace in other areas of the

CRIME by the Numbers

rape
A 2000 report they didn’t know
by the Justice anyone in their
Department and community who had per 100,000 individuals
the Centers for not experienced
Disease Control and sexual violence.
Prevention found These reports
that more than have not set off the Fort Apache Tribe, Ariz. 523
one-third of Native kind of firestorm
American women of reform and Navajo Nation, Ariz. 207
will be raped in awareness needed to Tuttle Mountain Tribe, N.D. 154
their lifetimes and address this serious
40 percent will be issue. So, 10 years Pine Ridge Sioux Tribe, S.D. 116
victims of domestic later there is still an National average 29
violence, 2.5 epidemic of sexual
times the national violence against
average. A 2007 Native women that
report by Amnesty
International called
many are unaware
of. The 2009 edition Violent Crime
per 100,000 individuals
“Maze of Injustice” of the FBI’s annual
found that 86 report, “Crime in
percent of these the United States” National average 429
sexual assault found that some
crimes were being Native American Fort Apache Tribe, Ariz. 1223
committed by non- reservations have
Native men to Native very high incidences Navajo Nation, Ariz. 501
women. Some of rape and violent
Native American crimes. Here is data
Tuttle Mountain Tribe, N.D. 1513
women interviewed taken from some
by Amnesty reservations.
International said Pine Ridge Sioux Tribe, S.D. 869

26 Earth+Sky

country,” Williams says.
“We’re not like some tribes,” he says.
“We don’t have boatloads of casino money.
We depend on these kinds of funds. With-
out them we’d be bottom-up and without
radio communication.”
Another area of grant focus was the Tribal
Sexual Assault Services Program aimed at low-
ering the alarming domestic violence rates on
reservations. A total of $300,000 has been allo-
cated for this purpose for the Seminole Nation
of Oklahoma. Heather Napier, director of The
Seminole Nation Domestic Violence Program,
says that the money will go toward financing
numerous services for victims.
“One area will be in victim advocacy,” she
says. “Victim advocates are crucial in helping
victims of sexual abuse to locate different
resources and empower them. It’s discourag-
ing when we aren’t able to fund these advo-
cates or the programs they provide.” She says
she has had to shrink her program’s services
in past years, but now she’s able to invest
and expand projects. One project will be the
completion of a safe house for victims on
the reservation, so that Native women don’t
have to go off tribal lands to get help. “I am
so grateful for this kind of funding,” Napier
says. “I’m excited that people are finally lis-
tening and noticing what’s going on, and are
making efforts to change things.”
Creating a new tradition
The CTAS grants are just the most recent
step in an effort to give Native Americans
more resources and more control over crime
on their lands. It follows the Tribal Law and
PHOTO/native sun news
Order Act signed into law in July 2010. That
act is expected to create substantial differ-
ences in the way reservations are policed. The
act allowed for tribal police to become trained
and certified for cross-jurisdiction, meaning
that once on the crime scene these officers will
know that they can make an arrest – even if
the suspect is non-Native. Capt. William Wil-
liams has confronted problems of jurisdiction
in the past and sees the act as a major change.
“In the old system, we weren’t always able
to enforce the law,” he says. “Sometimes, we
had to hand cases over, and nothing made me
madder. But once we get our officers trained
there won’t be that wall anymore.”
Ada Melton says the most important part
of the act was that it gave Native courts the
authority to issue felony sentences of up
to three years. “It’s still just a slap on the
wrist, but it’s a harsher one, and it actually
provides some deterrent,” Melton says.
Hallie Bongar White says she sees the jus-
tice situation improving from where it has
been. She had been cautiously optimistic
about the Obama administration’s dedica-
tion to improving Native policy, after years
of encouraging talk but with little action.
“But now I’m becoming a fan,” she says.
“They have started to put their money where
their mouth is and have started to turn their
ears toward us, too.”
Across the nation, many Native Ameri-
cans are joining White. They are becoming
warriors, standing with the government,
instead of against. They could even agree
on a chant. It may not be too catchy, but it
will be crucial. “Collaboration!”
WINTER+Spring 2011
Joined by tribal leaders and
government officials, President Barack
Obama signed into law the Tribal Law
and Order Act of 2010. The Obama
administration has made significant
strides in bringing together tribes and
the federal government.
+
Obama
Administration
Timeline
May 2008
President Barack Obama becomes
an honorary member of the Crow
Tribe and vows to protect Native
American interests.
Nov. 2009
Obama convenes a daylong confer-
ence on Native American issues.
Declares, “you will not be forgotten.”
March 2010
Obama signs the Indian Health Care
Improvement Act into law, boost-
ing health-care provisions for Native
American communities.
July 2010
Obama signs the Tribal Law and
Order Act of 2010, meant to increase
authority of tribal police and allow
Native courts more power.
Sept. 2010
The CTAS grants are awarded to
tribes.
27
 To Nowhere

Iroquois
Nationals
Lacrosse Team
Fights for
Sovereignty
and the
Chance to
Compete on a
World Stage
illustration/Sara Creef

By Lauren Ratcliffe

28 Earth+Sky
E
ven before the Iroquois Nation-
als lacrosse team’s difficulty with
international travel, the Haude-
nosaunee Confederacy was work-
ing to upgrade its documents. But when a
bureaucratic snafu halted the team’s travel,
the issue of Haudenosaunee passports and
sovereignty garnered international atten-
tion. “Our goal is to produce identification
documents that satisfy global standards,
not just the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative,” says Karl Hill, chairman of the
Haudenosaunee Documentation Commit-
tee and the Cayuga sub-chief.
The Haudenosaunee people are wait-
ing for new documents: Karla General,
staff attorney for the Indian Law Resource
Center and a member of the Haudeno-
saunee people, says that while their iden-
tification cards are working for now, she
is waiting for the passport issue to be
resolved. “Once they figure out what’s
going on with the passport, I’ll be apply-
The Nationals, ranked fourth in outdoor lacrosse and second in indoor
competition, hope to use upgraded passports to travel to the Czech Republic in
May. There they will compete in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships.
ing for one,” she says. All Haudenosaunee
people can apply for documents through
their respective tribes.
The team is already looking to its next
international tournament in May. It’s
registered for the World Indoor Lacrosse
Championships in Prague, Czech Repub-
lic, and is readying a roster. Hill says it
is feasible that new passports will be
ready for the team by its travel date. The
team, ranked second in the world heading
into the tournament, wants to compete.
Passports and politics are left to tribal
leaders, and Ansley Jemison,
general manager of the team,
says the focus of the team is on the game
the Haudenosaunee invented and uphold-
ing the integrity they displayed over the
summer. “We’re just making sure that we
have a team that is fit and ready to go,”
he says.
A Forfeited Summer
The Thirty-five members of the Iroquois
Nationals were stuck waiting to see if three
governments would acknowledge their
independence and accept their travel docu-
ments. At stake was the chance to compete
in the 2010 Federation of International
Lacrosse World Championships in Man-
chester, England. At stake was their iden-
tity and the sovereignty of their people.
The world lacrosse organization, FIL,
accepted the Iroquois Confederacy’s team
into the league in 1990, and the Nationals
are the only Native American team sanc-
IROQUOIS LACROSSE TEAM/Percy Abrams
tioned to compete in international con-
tests. This recognition in the tournament
meant the Iroquois were seen as a separate
nation of peoples, unaffiliated with either
the United States or Canada, which also
field teams. International competition is
not new to the Nationals – two of the past
four World Lacrosse Championships have
been outside of North America. In 1994,
England hosted the tournament, and the
Iroquois team had no problems traveling.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States
initiated the Western Hemisphere Travel
WINTER+Spring 2011
PHO
TO/
Hau
den
osA
unee
Lon
Kah ghou
nawakese
The Beginnings of
Haudenosaunee
sovereignty: The Two Row
Wampum belt
In the early 1600s, the
Haudenosaunee first encountered
Europeans. The Two Row Wampum
belt is the Haudenosaunee symbol
for the Two Row Wampum Treaty
between the groups.
The belt has a white background
with two parallel purple lines. One
line denotes the Haudenosaunee
canoe, which carries the language,
laws, customs and traditions of the
people. The other line represents
the European ship, which carries
all languages, laws, customs and
traditions of the settlers. “Together
they’re traveling down the river of
life,” says Karl Hill, chairman of the
Haudenosaunee Documentation
Comittee. The purple rows represent
the paths the canoe and ship will take,
neither outpacing nor contacting the
other. Each group is distinct. “The
people in the ship will not attempt to
interfere with the governance of the
people in the canoe, and likewise the
people in the canoe will not interfere
with the governance of the people in
the ship,” Hill says.
Subsequent treaties between the
Haudenosaunee and European settlers
were rooted in the tradition of the Two
Row Wampum belt. Each group was
seen, and treated, as sovereign.
29
 Initiative, requiring heightened security
documents. Tribal identification cards
have still been accepted for land crossings
between the United States and Canada.
These measures started to cause problems
for Haudenosaunee people traveling with
tribal documents. But in 2002 the team
successfully traveled using native pass-
ports to in Perth, Australia, for a tourna-
ment. The team members would not have
to use their passports to travel to compe-
titions again until the 2010 tournament,
because in 2006 the tournament was held
in Ontario, Canada, and tribal identifica-
tion cards allow for U.S.-Canadian travel.
Percy Abrams, executive director of the
Iroquois Nationals, says he never antici-
pated the difficulties they would have in
trying to compete in England.
“It all started when we were attempt-
ing to take our travel documents to the
UK consulate,” he says. “They wouldn’t
even take our appointment to present our
documents.”
Injuries and coaching changes would
have been difficult to handle, but bureau-
cratic red tape was something the Nation-
als were much less prepared to face. In an
attempt to resolve the issues prior to the
start of the tournament, they headed to
New York City with a handful of days to
spare to tie up the loose ends of paperwork
and security scans and receive clearance
and visas for a flight to England on July
11. They expected to travel as they had
done in the 1970s and 1980s, even as they
had done as recently as 2002. But a twist
of events stranded the Nationals in New
York until they bowed out of the tourna-
ment on July 16.
The United Kingdom rejected the team’s
Instead of competing at the International Lacrosse World Championship in
Manchester, England, the Nationals were stranded in America because of
bureaucratic red tape.
30
initial request for visas and required that
the team members have assurance from
the United States that they would be
allowed to return using tribal passports.
Jemison says he didn’t foresee any prob-
lem with the request. “How would you
deny Native people coming back to the
U.S. of all places,” he says. “Then the State
Department says ‘no’ and that was a huge
shock.” The U.S. initially refused, citing
an internal directive from 2008 which
stated that tribal documents could not
be substituted for U.S. passports for inter-
national travel. Media outlets jumped on
the story and thrust the team into a frenzy
of attention.
Letters supporting the team were sent
from around the globe. The Australian
and Polish teams wrote them, and other
Native American tribes voiced their sup-
port and praise for the team’s stance. Film
director James Cameron decided to donate
money to help the team, and eventually,
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sec-
retary of State Hillary Clinton stepped in.
The team was offered a one-time waiver
to leave the country and return, and it
seemed as if the team might make it in
time to compete. But then another hurdle:
The UK government changed its stance
and chose not to honor the documents.
While team leaders and government offi-
cials tried to sort out the mess, the players
and coaches were stuck out of competi-
tion and in the spotlight. They uninten-
tionally became representatives of the
larger story of government recognition
for native peoples, which made maintain-
ing a normal routine challenging. “All of
the sudden I had to be spokesman. I tried
to maintain normalcy with the lacrosse
PHOTO/PERCY ABRAMS
Earth+Sky
PHOTO/WIKIPEDIA
The Haudenosaunee people travel
using their own passports because
they see their identity as neither
Canadian or American. Although they
were offered the use of U.S. passports,
Jemison says accepting them would
have “compromised ourselves and our
sovereignty.”
team,” Jemison says. “I tried to set up prac-
tices, team meals, make sure we had hotel
rooms and that the guys were focused.” The
team set up a scrimmage against a team
in Staten Island, New York, and kept busy
touring some of the sights, but Jemison
admits there was a lot of time sitting in
the hotel during their five day stint in the
city. Midfielder Gewas Schindler says while
the team was disappointed in the process,
spirits remained high. “We stayed focused
and upbeat through most of the week until
final word came in that we weren’t going
to play,” he says. “We had to stay focused
on the team, on the tournament and on
lacrosse.”
Identity
Lacrosse runs deep in Haudenosaunee
culture. The game is linked to religion for
the Haudenosaunee, and is believed to be
a gift from their Creator. And while the
game’s origins can’t be traced with preci-
sion, oral history and legends from the
Haudenosaunee reflect their deep connec-
tion to the game, as its inventors. One
legend of the game depicts a competition
between winged animals and four-legged
animals. In the legend, two small four-
legged creatures, the mouse and the squir-
rel, asked to compete but were rejected by
the ground team. When they asked the
winged team, they were allowed to play.
The mouse was given leather wings and
became a bat, while the squirrel had its
skin stretched to become a flying squirrel.
The two creatures were invaluable in the
Continued on page 78
 d i a b e t es
Why Native Americans are at a higher risk and
what you can do to lower yours

32 Earth+Sky
By Emily Evans
P
retend for a moment you’re 8 years
old. You have a family history of
diabetes and both of your parents
are overweight. You’ve listened to
your doctors and your teachers talk about
something called “diabetes” but you don’t
really understand what that means.
Your parents would love to give you
nutritious meals of fresh fruit and
vegetables every night, but good produce is
expensive, and after a long day at the office
your parents don’t always have the time or
energy to cook. Your school lunches aren’t
much better—your meals often include
french fries, pizza and chicken nuggets.
Recess and physical education classes have
also been cut at your school. You know you
should eat healthy foods and exercise, but
you lack the resources with which to do so.
If you’re like any of the millions of families
living in the United States, this story is all
too familiar. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s National
Diabetes Education Program, 18 percent of
adolescents age 12 to 19 were classified as
obese. The problem affects younger children,
too. Twenty percent of children age 6 to
11 and 10 percent of children age 2 to 5
were also classified as obese. The Education
Program also found that within the general
American population, 10.7 percent of those
age 20 or older have diabetes. Those are
pretty sobering statistics.
For Native Americans, however, that’s just
half the story. According to the Education
Program, if you are a Native American, your
chance of developing diabetes doubles.
That’s a pretty big leap, and it shows in
the statistics: According to the Education
Program, 16.5 percent of Native Americans
over age 20 have diabetes.
“While there are many different American
Indian tribes in different geographic
locations, I think … overall that American
Indians suffer from higher rates of diabetes
and probably higher rates of obesity than
many other ethnic groups,” says Alice
Ammerman, the director of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
“In general, lower income and minority
populations have higher rates of obesity,
and diabetes has been a particular problem
among American Indians.”
Defining a disease
At its most basic, diabetes is actually
a class of diseases, and there are several
types, including one that develops during
pregnancy. The two most common (and
most talked about) are Type 1 and Type
2. Type 1 accounts for only about 5 to 10
percent of the diagnosed cases of diabetes
in the United States, while Type 2 accounts
for almost 90 percent. When someone is
diagnosed with the condition of having an
excess amount of sugar in his or her blood,
usually due to problems with the sugar-
regulating hormone insulin, that person
can be described as diabetic.
“Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, lifelong
disease that occurs when the pancreas does
not produce enough insulin to properly
control blood sugar levels,” Ammerman
explains. “Obesity has little to do with Type
1 diabetes.”
Unfortunately, Ammerman says, the
cause of Type 1 diabetes is still largely
unknown. According to the CDC, people
who have the disease must inject themselves
with insulin or use an insulin pump in order
to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-
onset diabetes, occurs when the body
becomes insulin-resistant. In the past, it was
only seen in adults and older populations,
Diabetes is represented universally us-
ing this light-blue circle symbol.
but children and adolescents are getting
diagnosed more and more frequently with
the disease every year, which spurred the
name change. Type 2 diabetes is associated
with obesity, lack of physical activity, a
family history of diabetes, old age, high
blood pressure and high cholesterol. It’s also
associated with being a member of certain
ethnic groups, including Native American.
Type 2 diabetes is where an unhealthy
lifestyle hits the hardest, Ammerman
says. “While family history is important
for Type 2 diabetes, obesity is the strongest
risk factor.”
A toxic environment
The numbers don’t lie—the Native
WINTER+Spring 2011
American population is at a much higher
risk of developing diabetes than the
general population. Take the state of North
Carolina, for example. Its Native American
population is the sixth-largest in the United
States, according to U.S. Census Bureau
information from 2008. The population of
108,279 people (or almost 1 percent of the
entire state’s population) is also the largest
east of the Mississippi River, so the state is
a good example. Ziya Gizlice, a statistician
with UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Public
Health, says that Native Americans in
North Carolina have a high chance of being
overweight or obese, and also of developing
or having Type 2 diabetes.
“Based on the (CDC’s) 2009 Behavior
Risk Factor Surveillance System survey,
prevalence of diabetes among N.C. adult
Native Americans was 11.7 percent,” Gizlice
says. “Prevalence of hypertension was
38.1 percent. The rate of obesity, or adults
with a Body Mass Index of 30 and up, was
36 percent and another 35 percent were
overweight, or had a BMI of 25 to 29.9.”
But what is it about this particular
population that makes its risk so much
higher? The environment that some Native
Americans grow up in can be to blame.
Steven Wing, a professor in the UNC-CH
School of Global Public Health, explains
that one of the biggest factors in obesity is
environment, especially if that environment
is one of poverty.
“The environment includes our
agriculture and food systems, commercial
marketing and the opportunities people
have (or don’t have) for engaging in physical
activity,” he says.
Wing describes obesity as “an
environmental issue and not simply an
issue of genetics or personal choice …
while those factors are very important
determinants of how individuals respond
to the environment, they do not explain the
greater obesity of whole populations or the
substantial time trends within populations.”
Since obesity is the biggest risk factor for
33
 Reduce Your Risk
+
Here are seven tips from PHOTO/STOCK XCHNG

the National Diabetes
Education Program to
help you get and stay
healthy—and prevent
Type 2 diabetes:
People diagnosed with diabetes often have to use external means, such as tak-
ing medication or using insulin pumps, to survive.
Type 2 diabetes, Native Americans living in Reversing the trend
rural areas, in low-income areas, or simply So what can be done to change this?
without access to information about healthy The U.S. government and the American

1.
choices tend to be disadvantaged and at a Diabetes Association have created several
higher risk for obesity. It’s not just Native programs to address Native American
Americans who are at a higher risk, though obesity specifically, including the Education
Find a way to incorporate they seem to be leading the pack. Besides Program. Programs that are aimed at the
exercise into your daily African-Americans, Native Americans have general population as a whole continue
life. Park farther away, the highest group diabetes death rate in the to increase as well, as the prevalence of
take the stairs instead U.S. The Native American rate was 1.7 times obesity and diabetes across the country rises
of the elevator or take as high as that of the general population, toward epidemic levels. In 2004, medical
a quick walk with family and 2.5 times as high as that of Asian professions students at UNC-CH helped
or friends. Do sit-ups or Americans. create a program called the Native Health
push-ups while watching “In our country, populations with low Initiative to try to help local tribes like the
TV. You don’t have to jog incomes, rural people and people who Lumbee and Waccamaw-Siouan combat
for 10 miles to reap the experience racial discrimination are health problems, including diabetes. From
benefits of keeping your disproportionately exposed to environments 2004 to 2008, the program sent students
body moving! Try lots that promote obesity,” Wing says. as interns to work with the tribes. First lady
of different activities to
prevent boredom—you may
discover a hidden talent or
passion. Definitions
2.
Seek out healthy choices
Diabetes, obesity, body mass index … medical experts toss these terms around with
ease, but they can be confusing to the average person. Here’s a quick list to clear
up confusion or help you on your next trip to the doctor:

such as fresh fruits and

vegetables for meals
and snacks, and think
moderation. You don’t have
to give up your favorite
foods; just eat reasonable
portions of them or save
them for special occasions.
Experiment with new
recipes, or try making a
big pot of vegetable soup
or a colorful salad with
whatever you have on
hand.
Diabetes:
A group of diseases that
are characterized by high
levels of blood glucose,
or sugar. These high
levels result from defects
in insulin production
or activity. The two
most common types of
diabetes are known as
Type 1 and Type 2.
Type 1
diabetes:
Previously known as
juvenile diabetes. This
type occurs when the
body stops making
insulin. The cause of
Type 1 diabetes is still
unknown, and those
affected by it must inject
insulin into their bodies to
survive.
Type 2
diabetes:
Previously known as
adult-onset diabetes.
This type is much more
prevalent. It occurs
when the body starts
to become resistant to
insulin, the hormone that
regulates blood sugar.
It is associated with
genetics, obesity and
physical inactivity, among
other things.

34 Earth+Sky
 3.
Set realistic goals, like
cutting 100 calories per day
from your diet or adding 10
minutes of exercise. Build
up slowly, only taking on
what you can reasonably
handle. You’ll be surprised
how far you can go!

PHOTO/STOCK XCHNG
4.
Write it down! Keeping
Eating fresh produce is one way to reduce your own risk for developing diabe-
a food and exercise
tes, and it’s also a great way to help to combat the disease in the community. diary helps you chart
your progress and stay
Michelle Obama has taken on preventing employees to join a gym—or even providing motivated.

childhood obesity as a personal goal and
operates a website called LetsMove.gov,
full of helpful information, fun and healthy
recipes and tips on living a more active life.
Ammerman thinks that’s the best way to
start. “It is important to address obesity at
all levels – individual, family, organization,
community, policy,” she says.
Taking small steps, like seeking out fresh
produce and adding in just a few minutes
of exercise, can be a big help. More changes
need to happen, though, to make these
steps easier. School lunches need to provide
healthier options, for example, and local
5.
one in the building. Uniting an entire Native
American community together would be
even better.
There’s a long way to go, and Native Find a support group in
Americans are certainly at a disadvantage. your area, or reach out
But spreading the word and starting with to family and friends.
education can lead to a better understanding You don’t have to go at
of the disease and increase awareness in it alone—making lifestyle
certain environments. With a clearer picture changes is much easier
of obesity brought on by movements targeted with the encouragement
specifically at Native Americans, diabetes can of those close to you. Your
be a lot less overwhelming. The disease can’t dedication to health might
be entirely prevented, but it can at least be rub off on those around
slowed down—and that can be a glimmer you as well.

6.
food pantries need to stress the acquisition of hope and a wake-up call for the busy and
and subsequent donation of fresh produce. underserved 8-year-olds, and their friends
Workplaces can help too, by encouraging and family, throughout the country.
Don’t give up! It can be
hard to make lots of small
changes, or to make
big ones and not see
immediate results, but
know that it’s all worth
it. If you make a mistake,
don’t give up—everyone
slips occasionally. Just start
Pre-diabetes: Body Mass Overweight: again the next day.
This is a condition where Index (BMI): An adult who has a BMI

a person has a higher-
than-normal amount of
blood sugar, but not high
enough to be classified
as diabetic. People with
pre-diabetes are at an
elevated risk for heart
disease and stroke, as
well as for developing
Type 2 diabetes.
BMI is a measure that
correlates a person’s
height with his or her
weight. It is commonly
used for adults because
it gives a fairly accurate
measure of body fat.
between 25 and 29.9 is
considered overweight.
Obese:
An adult who has a
BMI of 30 or higher is
considered obese.
7.
Remember that every little
bit counts. For an obese
person, even losing 10
pounds can help lower the
risk of developing diabetes.

Source/National
Source/the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Diabetes Education Program

WINTER+Spring 2011 35
36
Earth+Sky
illustration/nick yarbrough
More
feeling
Examining the legacy of the
American Indian Movement
By Anna Norris
T
he ’60s and ’70s were a time for
standing up and fighting – think
Woodstock, the Vietnam War and
the African American civil rights
movement. And although Native Ameri-
cans were fighting too, it was a fight that
was recorded by few and remembered by
even fewer. What was documented of the
American Indian Movement by the media
paints a dramatic picture of Native Ameri-
can radicals encased in headdresses and
spouting peace pipes. While such images
and events certainly put AIM and its goals in
the public eye, their lack of tangible achieve-
ments begs the question: What exactly did
AIM accomplish?
Winds of Change
By the late 1960s, Native American com-
munities across the U.S. were in tatters.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), set up
to administer the Native American popula-
tion, took a colonial approach that fostered
dependency. Outlawing ceremonies and
rituals tore at the spiritual heart of indig-
enous communities while also destroying
the governing institutions Native Ameri-
cans already had. Government relocation
than A
policies created in the 1950s to combat the
so-called “Indian problem” drained reserva-
tions of their populations and attempted
to incentivize Native Americans to start a
new life in cities. But underfunding, lack
of support to help the transition to urban
living and often no work prospects usually
meant these relocation projects ended in
disaster. Racism and police brutality were
also a common problem, documented in
memoirs such as “Lakota Woman” by Mary
Crow Dog and “Like a Hurricane” by Robert
Warrior and Paul Smith.
The first official installment of AIM came
with the formation of the Minneapolis AIM
Patrol in October 1968 by George Mitchell,
Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks and a hand-
ful of other Native American activists. The
Minneapolis AIM Patrol initially spent their
time patrolling the streets wearing berets
and walkie-talkies to report acts of police
mistreatment or outright violence against
Native Americans. It was a small start, but
soon blossomed to a larger call for public
action about national issues.
“I think that AIM grew out in large mea-
sure of shared feelings of being invisible,
ignored and being discriminated against,
particularly in urban areas like Minneapolis,”
WINTER+Spring 2011
says Dan Cobb, professor of American Stud-
ies at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Although AIM came at the same
time as the African American civil rights
movement, sometimes with overlapping
support, there was one important differ-
ence. African Americans wanted in Ameri-
can society. Native Americans wanted out.
And so political theatrics became most AIM
members’ weapon of choice.
Putting the ‘Active’ in ‘Activists’
By the early 1970s, AIM had taken off in
a flurry of organized protests and marches.
Often taking the opportunity to wear their
regalia and use iconic images such as the
peace pipe, AIM members attempted to get
the public to view Native Americans in a
way other than stereotypes of poor, unedu-
cated and addicted to drugs. And while there
were still AIM members quietly lobbying
Congress, it was the attention-catching and
controversial actions of the movement that
quickly overshadowed the quieter work of
other AIM members. Such aggressive tactics
seemed to produce a mixed bag of results.
“I remember hearing things from the
people in the White Earth Reservation in
Minnesota, where there was a real mix of
37

AIM-inspired activist
groups
Women Of All Red Nations
(WARN)
Founded in 1974, WARN looked to
address rights for Native American
women. Many women in AIM found
themselves playing subservient roles,
so WARN became a network of sup-
port for Native women to speak up
about various issues that affected
them, such as domestic violence, im-
provement of educational opportuni-
ties and health and medical care.
Native American Traditions, Ideals,
Values Educational Society
(NATIVE)
Founded in 1993 by a Navajo
mother, Betty Red Ant LaFontaine,
NATIVE looked to instill the value
of modern and cultural education
in Native youths looking to balance
contemporary lifestyles with their
heritage.
National Indian Youth Council
(NIYC)
The NIYC was the first independent
Native student organization. Found-
ed in 1961, the NIYC originally acted
as a civil rights organization that was
mostly concerned with tribal fishing
rights in the Northwest. Today the
NIYC focuses on improving public
education for Native Americans and
increasing their
political participation.
38
On March 24, 1973, around 10,000 people coordinated pro-Wounded Knee marches
across America, calling on President Nixon to recognize the 1868 Treaty, which gave
the Lakota nation land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
white people [living among the]…Native
Americans,” says Clara Sue Kidwell, who is
of both Chippewa and Choctaw descent and
director of the American Indian Center at
UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Members of AIM literally came through
the town, threw rocks and broke windows
and raised holy hell, then went back to the
city. And it was the residents of White Earth
that got left behind in newfound racial ten-
sions that AIM had caused,” Kidwell says.
In October 1972, members of AIM and
several other organizations such as the
National Indian Youth Council and the
Native American Rights Fund sponsored
a cross-country peaceful protest to bring
attention to Native American issues such
as living standards, discrimination and
disregard for treaty rights. Participants
called it the Trail of Broken Treaties and
began the march on the West Coast. In early
November, the protesters reached their final
destination at the Bureau of Indian Affairs
in Washington, D.C. The original goal was
to present the 20 Point Proposal by Native
American intellectual Hank Adams, which
addressed grievances toward the federal
government such as treaty responsibili-
ties that AIM members felt the govern-
ment had failed to fulfill. Protest marchers
ended up taking control of the BIA office for
seven days, and when they stepped down,
the 20 Point Proposal was rejected by the
government.
A little more than a year later on Feb.
27, 1973, members of AIM seized con-
trol of the town of Wounded Knee, S.D.,
in response to the poor living conditions
of the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation,
Earth+Sky
Photo/Akwesasne Notes
home to the Oglala Lakotas. Tensions
on the reservation arose from allega-
tions that Oglala tribal chairman Richard
Wilson was controlling what little wealth
and opportunity existed on the reserva-
tion, and shunting it toward friends and
family. After a large group of AIM mem-
bers swarmed the town, U.S. government
forces including federal marshals and FBI
agents promptly surrounded Wounded
Knee. What followed was a 71-day stand-
off that involved constant gunfire from
both sides, which eventually killed two AIM
members and wounded 12 others, two of
them FBI agents. Meanwhile, journalists
and media outlets from across the country
kept a constant chronicle for the public.
AIM’s plight caught the attention of figures
like Marlon Brando, who requested during
the Wounded Knee incident that Sacheen
Littlefeather refuse his Academy Award for
“The Godfather” on his behalf.
The Wounded Knee incident proved to be
the end of the road for AIM. Wounded Knee
caught the attention of the FBI and fed-
eral and state governments. These groups
launched a massive attack on AIM, arresting
562 people on charges directly connected
to the occupation, and dozens more on riot
conspiracy charges. AIM had also begun
to sprout competing factions within the
movement, and the addition of countless
government informants fostered a paranoia
that became stronger than the unit’s cohe-
sion. By the time AIM officially split into
two groups in 1993, the AIM Grand-Gov-
erning Council and the AIM Confederation
Continued on page 79
 CULTURAL vS. CONDITIONAL
AWARENESS ancestry

Choose One:
White
African American
Native American
Hispanic
Asian
Other

NATIVE AMERICAN IDENTITY is rooted both in culture and family heri-

tage, yet the dichotomy of embracing traditional values and following a
genetic line of ancestry is often blurred and complicated.

By Latisha Catchatoorian
Taking a standard-
ized test while sit-
ting in one of the
25 public school
desks that lined
my classroom was
always puzzling. Yet
my perplexity began
before the test was
opened and my first
answer was penciled in on the scantron.
From elementary school to middle
school, my name would appear, accom-
panied by subsequent questions about
my demographic, already answered by an
unknown recorder.
A frequent puzzling question: “race.”
This four-letter word was followed by
a series of bubbles. The tiny circle next
to “White” was always darkened. This
was bothersome. I wasn’t “White” – at
least not fully. I was African-American
and Native American, too. Did American
Indian or Alaskan Native mean the same
thing as Native American? Should this
circle and the “African-American” circle
be bubbled next to “White” as well? What
did the “Other” bubble mean? Was the
“Multi-racial” bubble all-encompassing
and therefore the correct answer?
These questions about race and identity
have grown in depth and complexity as
I have grown. Questions about cultural
identity and the percentage of “Native
Americanness” encased inside my body
are ones shared by other Native Ameri-
cans and tribes across the country. And
unlike that bubble sheet from years ago,
these questions have no right or wrong
answers.
To some Natives and to some tribes,
being an American Indian comes down to
blood quantum – an umbrella term that
can be defined as the degree of ances-
try or a genetic bloodline an individual
has relating to a specific ethnic or racial
group. Because my maternal grandfather
was 100 percent Cayuga from the Cayuga
Nation of the Iroquois, I am 25 percent
Cayuga. Additionally, I am 25 percent Cau-
casian, while the remaining 50 percent
of my “blood” is a mixture of African-
American and Asian heritage. However,
these standards of measuring someone’s
“blood” were not always in place.
“The standard came about because the
Bureau of Indian Affairs struggled with a
way to initiate the policy of the govern-
ment,” says Malinda Maynor Lowery, a
former assistant professor of history at
Harvard University and now an assistant
professor of history at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Congress
decided that they wanted to break down
tribal lands through acts like the Dawes

40 Earth+Sky
Act, but it doesn’t mention blood quan-
tum at all. As the BIA tried to implement
this, they tried to determine membership
– one way was blood quantum. It doesn’t
have a legal basis, but a policy basis.”
The Dawes Act of 1887 was proposed by
Congressman Henry Dawes for the allot-
ment of land to Native Americans on spec-
ified reservations. The act was passed to
ultimately “civilize” Native Americans as
part of a civilization process that, accord-
ing to Dawes, included owning property.
But as Lowery said, there was no blood
quantum requirement mentioned in the
Dawes Act; blood quantum was created
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a way
to enforce this policy.
“I teach about blood quantum a lot,”
says Lowery, a Lumbee from Robeson
County, N.C. “It is a huge determiner of
identity for a lot of different tribes.”
She says that realistically, there is no
such thing as blood quantum. That you
can’t divide someone’s blood into chunks
and say that part is Indian, that part is
white or that part is black.
Blood quantum is a tricky trending
topic in Native American society. Some
argue that it is important because it is
proof of lineage. At times this lineage
enables an individual to obtain federal
rights and privileges unique to a speci-
fied tribe. Others say that it is not a true
measure of a person’s ties to culture or
tradition or even to a connectivity to their
Native ancestry.
“I think that although cultural iden-
tity and sentiments are important, as is
a cultural sense of belonging, equally, if
not more important, is blood quantum,”
says Ingrid Johnston, a college student
who is an eighth Cherokee from the West-
ern Band of Oklahoma. “With so few
LESLIE LOCKLEAR WILLIAM MORGAN
Being interested in a particular culture
does not make you part of that culture.
American Indians left in our country – less
than 1 percent of the entire population
– it is important to be and stay informed
of one’s blood quantum and tribal and
family history.”
Danny Bell, a social research assistant
in the American Indian studies depart-
ment at UNC-Chapel Hill, has similar
sentiments.
“To me, being Indian is a connection
to the Indian community, a participatory
relationship,” Bell says. “But enrollment
comes into play with the tribes, too. If
you look at the Cherokee tribes, one has
a one-fourth blood quantum, another one
has a one-sixteenth blood quantum and
the third has no blood quantum at all.”
Bell’s mother is Lumbee, and his father
is Coharie, both tribes in North Carolina.
Although he is “full” Native American, he
has only a 50 percent blood quantum in
each tribe. In general, a person cannot be
enrolled in more than one tribe. Tribes
typically allow only enrollment in their
own tribe and no other. Ethnically, Bell is
100 percent Native American, but tribally
he is only 50 percent Lumbee.
Bell says feeling as if you are Native
American isn’t enough to him. He says
that you must make an effort to be an
active participant in your tribe and that
some enrollment by some ancestor is also
important.
Bell says he sometimes has conflicting
views on blood quantum because different
people have different situations.
Different situations have arisen, for
example, through intermarriage between
tribes.
INGRID JOHNSTON
WINTER+Spring 2011
Lowery says that it is common for tribal
members to intermarry with members of
other tribes or with non-Natives, dimin-
ishing blood quantum levels once these
couples have children.
“There are issues of membership for
a tribe of blood quantum standards of
enrollment,” Lowery says. “They see their
tribal rolls vanishing because they marry
whoever they marry. Eventually, these
people don’t have blood quantum require-
ments to be on the tribal roll. Tribes want
to maintain large populations because
they are tied to other sources. But on the
other hand, they have to be strict about
who can belong to their community. Being
Native isn’t just a cultural designation;
it’s also political, a matter of citizenship.”
Leslie Locklear, 19, is 50 percent
Lumbee, 25 percent Waccamaw Siouan
and 25 percent Coharie. She thinks Native
American identity has a lot to do with
feeling a part of the culture. However,
she says sometimes this isn’t enough. She
says that people can have the feeling that
they are Native American without a blood
quantum requirement. Yet occasionally,
these individuals try to obtain benefits
that are given to certain tribes, which
takes away from “true” Native Americans.
“Being interested in a particular culture
does not make you part of that culture,”
Locklear says.
“One cannot completely understand
the life of a Native American unless they
themselves are either partially or 100 per-
cent Native American, just as I cannot
understand the life of an African-Ameri-
can because I am not African-American.”
Many of today’s Na-
tive Americans have
mixed heritage. Some
identify solely with
their Native ancestry
while others embrace
their other ethnicities
as well. It is difficult to
look at a person and
instantly judge how
much Native blood he
or she possesses.
41

My
grandfather,
Franklin
Jones,
and my
grandmother,
Barbara
Norwig,
cutting the
cake on their
wedding day,
Sept. 20,
1958.
Locklear recounts a story of people she
knew of non-Native descent who grew up
in a Native American community. Upon
their discovery that this group of Natives
could possibly gain federal recognition,
which could lead to more money for
the community, they sought to pursue
a Native American identity in order to
reap some of the benefits. She says that
such actions are wrong when many Native
American tribes have to pass strenuous
tests to prove that they are members of a
tribe and deserve the benefits that come
from tribal federal recognition.
The relationship between national and
state governments and Native American
tribes has a long history of legal issues,
unrest, tension and struggle. Federal
recognition’s relation to blood quantum
is more political and less cultural. Blood
quantum is something that Lowery feels
BY THE NUMBERS
Tribal Enrollment Based on Blood Quantum
6.3% 25%
Cherokee Sioux
(Eastern Band)
Percentage qualifications for enrollment vary according to tribe. Some tribes have no blood quantum requirement.
42
clear understanding of the word “Indian”
and that “Indianness” could be measured.
Only those with a measured blood quan-
Catc hato oria n
tum of 50 percent or more would be con-
sidered Native American. At this time, a
group of Indians with 50 percent blood
quantum or more was promised federal
recognition.
photo/courtesy Latisha
In one of the most absurd historical
studies done on Native Americans, tests
on lips, fingers, cheekbones, hair type and
skin color were measured by Seltzer. One
test included taking a pencil and sticking
it into the hair of a Lumbee. If it fell out
easily, meaning one had smooth textured
hair, you were considered more Indian.
“Out of the 209 people tested, only
22 were found to have half or more
should be left up to individual tribes. Indian blood,” says Lowery, who talks
“Some people think that unfederally more in depth about the study in her
recognized Indians aren’t really Indian. book “Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow
Indian heritage versus Indian culture,” South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a
Lowery says. “What other kinds of defini- Nation.” “One sibling would be half Indian
tions people want to impose is a conver- and another full-blood sibling would be
sation that we can have as a society, but identified as less. It makes no sense at all.
what frustrates me is how the government Racial ancestry and cultural association
questions our identity and doesn’t let the could be scientifically measured?”
questions remain in the hands of Indians.” With the government and scientists
Historically, Europeans, white govern- questioning Native American identity
ment officials and scientists have taken it based on physical signs of “Indianness,”
upon themselves to determine the extent what happens when Natives question
of Native American identity within an other Natives about their identity or their
individual as if it can be measured. blood quantum?
In 1936, Carl Seltzer, a physical anthro- Bell says that if someone questions
pologist hired by the Office of Indian another’s “Indianness,” they withdraw
Affairs, came to Robeson County to mea- from a Native group or the part of them-
sure the “Indianness” of a random group selves that feels Native American.
of about 200 Lumbees who were tested.He Which brings us back to that bubble
said that Native Americans didn’t have a sheet sitting on my plastic desk in a
25% 50% 64%
Navajo Mississippi Utes
Choctaws (Indian Tribe of Utah)
Earth+Sky
classroom long ago.
The word “race” questioned my “Indian-
ness,” my Native American heritage, my My
blood quantum. grandfather,

Catc hato oria n

Franklin
I withdrew in fear as I swore I saw the Jones, right,
“White” bubble enlarging on the sheet in his U.S.
before my eyes. Air Force
Aside from stories my mother used to uniform. He
tell about Papa Jones, the drawing of a was on active

long-nosed face with feather-adorned hair
in the garage and the moccasins my little
brother wore, I knew nothing about my
heritage. But I did know that a quarter
of the blood running through my veins
was Iroquois, that I would bleed Native
blood if Abby in the next desk over cut me
with the kiddy-scissors. Was my blood-
line enough? Or did I need to know more
about what being Native American truly
meant?
“I have met many types of Indians, full-
blooded and part Indian,” says William
Morgan, a Lumbee with a fifteenth-six-
teenth blood quantum. “Maybe the full-
blooded Indian really didn’t have much to
do with his or her culture, but the Indi-
ans that only have a little Native blood
in them know a lot about their Indian
culture. You might be full-blooded Indian,
but in my opinion, if you don’t know any-
thing about your culture, then your blood
quantum doesn’t matter.”
Morgan says that if he had to choose
which was more important between cul-
ture and blood quantum, it would be blood
quantum because other races can learn
about Native culture, but that doesn’t
make them Indian. He thinks both cul-
tural awareness and an ancestral bloodline
photo/courtesy Latisha
are essential.
Though Natives have personal pref-
erences and perspectives about blood
quantum being a determiner of “Indian-
ness,” individuals like Morgan, Bell and
Lowery don’t justify roles in which they
can make judgments about someone’s cul-
tural attachment or affiliation.
“I don’t play identity police,” Lowery
says. “I don’t feel in the position to judge.
What I hope and like to see is people who
have some sort of knowledge of their
ancestry making a concerned effort to
find out about the community they come
from. It’s not about convenience or it
being advantageous or glamorous.”
Blood quantum, while sometimes
politically advantageous to certain tribes,
has historically been anything but glam-
orous for Native Americans across the
United States and Canada. It goes back
duty from
1953 to 1957.
to the “one drop rule” used to discrimi-
nate against African-Americans as well as
other minorities.
“We’re not ‘people of color,’” Bell says.
“White people started this term to include
black and Hispanic people as well. It takes
away our Indianness. If people are going
to talk about minorities, don’t do a blan-
ket statement. Indians are different from
each other as well as from other groups.”
As I’ve come to learn more about my
heritage and focus less on my blood quan-
tum and race, I realize that I feel, cul-
turally, more “Native American” than I
ever have before. I’ve also embraced other
parts of my blood unaccounted for by my
Cayuga lineage.
And so it seems that in that first-grade
classroom 15 years ago, the “Other”
bubble may have been the correct answer
after all.

FEDERAL RECOGNITION
Some tribal
membership is linked
to ancestry listed on
census rolls such as
the Baker’s Roll, the
Dawes Final Roll and
the Old Settlers Roll.
These and other rolls
can date back to the
1800s and 1900s.
Only federally
Federal recognition recognized
is a government- tribes receive full
Tribal membership is to-government government benefits
especially important relationship between designated for tribes.
if the tribe is federally a tribe and the The Lumbee tribe of
recognized. Federally federal government. North Carolina has
recognized tribes This relationship can the largest population
have access to certain provide protection of of Native Americans
government benefits. resources, health care, east of the Mississippi
educational benefits River and is not fully
and social services. recognized by the
federal government.

WINTER+Spring 2011 43
 By Kelsey Finn

What is peyote?
Most know it as simply a hallucinogen
or a substance taken to induce some
spiritual experience or visions. But to
James Warren “Flaming Eagle” Mooney,
co-founder of Oklevueha Native American
Church in Utah, peyote is much more.

The Daily Herald/PHOTO SOURCE

44 Earth+Sky

Richard “He Who Has the Foundation” Swallow, right, and James Warren “Flaming Eagle”
Mooney, co-founders of the Oklevueha Native American Church, sit for a portrait at the
Mooney home in Spanish Fork in July 2008.
“It’s a sacrament,” he says. “It’s like what
the Catholics do when they take sacrament.
It’s like what the Mormons do when they
take sacrament. Catholics use wine and
wafer. Mormons use water and bread.”
In the Native American Church, the
most widespread indigenous denomination
in Native American religion, peyote is of
highest importance. This small, spineless
cactus has been used by natives in northern
Mexico and the southwestern United States
for healing and religious ceremonies for
thousands of years, and they have fought
to protect its use.
The part of the peyote cactus that grows
above the ground consists of disc-shaped
buttons that are cut from the roots, then
dried and chewed or boiled in water to make
a strong tea. The extract is extremely bitter
and often nauseating. Use of these buttons
in religious ceremonies is referred to as
Peyotism, which is generally synonymous
with the practice of the Native American
Church.
The Native American Church was formally
incorporated in 1918 in Oklahoma. Its first
major leader, Quanah Parker, adopted the
religion in the late 1800s after being gored
by a bull. He claimed to have survived the
attack with help of peyote. Parker taught
that peyote was the sacrament given to all
people by the Creator and was to be used
when taking communion.
Mooney says he first became a member
of the Native American Church because he
Health
Does using peyote
create psychological
or cognitive issues?
In a study published
PHOTO/THE DAILY HERALD in 2005, researchers
at Harvard-affiliated
McLean Hospital said
no, it doesn’t.
John Halpern, M.D., of
the hospital’s biologi-
cal psychiatry labora-
tory, actually found that
was cured of bipolar manic depression by one of members of the Navajo
the church’s members. tribe who use peyote
scored better on several
“The Oklevueha Native American Church, as measures of the Rand
all NAC churches are, is an earth-based healing Health Inventory, which
religion,” Mooney says. diagnoses psychological
Part of peyote’s position in this religion is stated problems and deter-
on his church’s website: “Peyote may be experi- mines overall mental
health, than members of
enced as a form of deity, but it does not dissolve the same tribe who did
kidney stones; it will not remove gallstones, and not use peyote.
it cannot clear the arteries and heart of deposits
of all kinds. It is not for peyote to cure and mend
the asthma of millions or the diabetes of tens
of millions. … But from the increased light
added by peyote and now emanating
from the transforming nature of the
soul, mountains will be moved of
epic proportions.”
Interpretations of peyote’s effect
vary from person to person. This
is Mooney’s take on it:
“It’s a truth serum, the way
I would describe it. You see
the truth and feel the truth of
things. It has been a substance
that the American Native cul-
ture has used for thousands and
thousands of years for spiritual
manifestations,
primarily to bring them closer to
what we call the Great Spirit.”
Mooney quotes Parker, who famously
said, “The White Man goes into his church
and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into
his tepee and talks with Jesus.”
Mooney, along with most members of the
WINTER+Spring 2011 45
 Peyote is a very powerful sacrament. It’s a teacher. It’s a healer. We only
use 10 percent of our brain, so I think what peyote does is open you up
so you’re more connected to the deity.
Native American Church, believes that
peyote is one of the means by which he
talks with Jesus.
Outside the Native American Church
Though Peyotism is typically tied solely
PHOTO/STOCK XCHANGE
46
to the Native American Church, there are
other organizations that have adopted some
form of this Native American tradition.
Anne Zapf, secretary of The Peyote Way
Church of God in Arizona, explains that her
church invites people of all backgrounds to
participate in Peyotism.
“The Peyote Way Church is nondenomi-
national,” she says. “We say that we are
multicultural because we do have
members from all religions and
all races.”
The church also has several
Native American members
and attributes its beliefs to
Native American values.
“It’s definitely Native Amer-
ican wisdom that we’ve
renewed or reconnected
with,” Zapf says.
According to its web-
site, one of the church’s
goals is “to make the
entheogenic experience
available to seekers.” It achieves
this through “spirit walks,” which
are three-day ventures into private
places in nature that involve fasting
and peyote.
“What we provide is a safe place
where people can be solitary and
yet still have someone around to
help,” Zapf says. “A spirit walk
is a solitary experience. On the
arrival day, you start to fast
for 24 hours. The next evening,
you’re given a cup of tea of pure
peyote and instructions on how
to ingest the tea for the most
benefit and the least vomiting.
And then you spend the night
out and come back and rest in
the morning. The third day is
the rest and recuperation day.”
Zapf stresses that spirit walks
inspire different reactions for
different people.
“If you talked to some
of the people who have
taken spirit walks, you’d
be getting some pretty
heavy answers,” she says.
Earth+Sky
“Peyote is a very powerful sacrament. It’s a
teacher. It’s a healer. We only use 10 percent
of our brain, so I think what peyote does is
open you up so you’re more connected to
the deity. It renews the body-mind-spirit
connection. There’s spiritual awareness,
spiritual growth. It’s gotten for me that I
don’t even try to describe to someone what
their spirit-walk experience is going to be,
except for the basics: you may be nauseated;
you may throw up. And then what happens
is really based on how prepared you are to
receive this sacramental experience. It’s
between you and your deity.”
Legal issues
The ban on peyote use for recreational
purposes is clear. Peyote is classified as a
Schedule I hallucinogen in the U.S., mean-
ing there is no medical reason for it to be
possessed, sold or used. Any of these can
result in penalties including imprisonment
and heavy fines.
However, the formal incorporation of
the Native American Church made the use
of peyote part of an established religion
rather than just a cultural tradition. The
First Amendment guarantees freedom to
practice religion, so declaring peyote use
illegal in the Native American Church would
easily be argued as a violation of the First
Amendment.
But in 1990, the Supreme Court ruled in
Employment Division v. Smith that religious
use of peyote by Native Americans was not
protected by the First Amendment. This was
finally contradicted in a 1996 amendment
to the American Indian Religious Freedom
Act that protected the right of Native
Americans to use peyote for traditional
ceremonial purposes of traditional Native
American religions.
Most churches in the Native American
Church will issue member cards.
“Because of the exception to the laws of
the Native American Church to partake of
peyote, a person that belongs to a federally
recognized tribe has a card to prove that he
is a member if he happens to be stopped
with some peyote,” Mooney says. “But for
a non-federally recognized member of the
Native American Church, we have to supply
cards to those people so that we can prove
to legal authorities that they have the
Native people from throughout the
right to possess peyote. In our particular Southwest will come down to the valley
church, we ask for a contribution of $100 where my family’s from, show their permits,
once they have done the ceremony, and and my family will sell the peyote to them.
then we will give them a card. And that’s a They can only sell to people who have
one-time life fee.” membership in the Native American Church.
When it comes to churches like The Peyote
Way Church of God, non-Native American South Texas, and that’s where a lot of traditions. Every tribe has something dif-
members are not legally allowed to possess peyote grows, so they have permits to sell it,” ferent. And you usually don’t leave until
peyote in most states, even with a member- Brayboy-Guerrero says. “So Native people you have some kind of contact with the
ship card. Only six states protect non-Native from throughout the Southwest will come spiritual world.”
American peyote use: Arizona, New Mexico, down to the valley where my family’s from, Brayboy-Guerrero says he often feels as
Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Oregon. show their permits, and my family will sell though he is part of two cultures.
the peyote to them. They can only sell to “It’s really interesting, because people
In the middle people who have membership in the Native from all over the Southwest and Oklahoma
Coty Brayboy-Guerrero, a senior Ameri- American Church, and they’re typically drive to South Texas to buy the peyote,”
can Indian studies major at the University found in the Southwest and in Oklahoma.” Brayboy-Guerrero says. “My family doesn’t
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is Brayboy-Guerrero has a good understand- really talk about selling the peyote. They
Tuscarora and Mexican-American, has ing of peyote ritual from classes and friends. sell it, but they don’t really know what it’s
never used peyote. “Usually what they’ll do is they’ll go in being used for. They know it’s being used
“I’m not a member of the Native American and they’ll take the peyote and put it in in a church, but they don’t really know the
Church,” he says. “I’m Pentecostal. But I tea and drink it while it’s hot,” he says. meaning behind it and how it’s used to
know a lot about it, and I have several “My friends tell me it tastes horrible. And connect the spirits. I don’t mean to sound
friends who are members.” then it takes a few minutes for it to kick cliché or that all Indian people are con-
Brayboy-Guerrero also describes peyote as in, and they’ll start singing or start playing nected to the earth or trees or how we’re
a sacrament that allows people to operate in their drums and reading scriptures from stereotyped, but in actuality, it’s used to
the spiritual rather than physical realm. But the Bible. They’ll sing Christian hymns communicate with another realm.”
he sees its use from a different perspective. or traditional chants, and they’ll go back So what is peyote? A drug, a sacrament,
“My Mexican-American family is from and forth between Christianity and their a crop—it all depends on the person.

Peyote Statutes by State Only on reservation

Native American
descent required
NAC membership required

Must be used within

NAC ceremony
NAC membership required
AND must be used within
NAC ceremony
Bona fide religious organization
membership required
Sincere religious intent
required
Illegal

WINTER+Spring 2011 47
 SHARING THE
SWEAT LODGE

Photo/Laura Hoxworth

The Green River Preserve, a summer camp in the mountains of North Carolina, aims to connect young campers with
the natural world. Activities include hiking, camping, fly-fishing and pottery, and older campers have the opportunity to
participate in a Native American-style sweat lodge.

Adapting a Lakota spiritual tradition teaches

children about Native American culture
By Laura Hoxworth on my breathing and the feel of the dirt of curiosity. While I knew that a sweat

T
aking one last, deep lungful of cool
mountain air, I bent my head to
duck through the small opening
of the domed shelter before me.
The thick layer of tarps draped carefully over
the top instantly shut out all light inside
the small space, creating an atmosphere
of eerie tranquility, a sharp contrast to the
beautiful summer day in the woods. Crawl-
ing toward the back of the shelter, I focused
beneath my hands to shut out the tinge of
claustrophobia I felt creeping at the edges
of my consciousness.
Working as a counselor at The Green
River Preserve, an environmental summer
camp for second- through twelfth-grade
children in the Blue Ridge Mountains of
North Carolina, this is how my first expe-
rience with a Native American-style sweat
lodge began. I signed up for it largely out
lodge was a spiritual ceremony and a sort
of purifying steam bath, I wasn’t quite sure
what to expect. But I was intrigued by the
opportunity to learn more about Native
American culture.
Many of these types of lodges, inspired
by Native American culture but led by non-
Natives, exist across the country as more
and more non-Natives become interested
in reconnecting with the earth through

48 Earth+Sky
 HISTORICAL modern

Photo/Wikimedia Commons Photo/Robert Freshley

The structure of a traditional Lakota-style sweat lodge has remained nearly unchanged throughout centuries. The frames
of both this historical sweat lodge (left), and this modern version (right), were made from willow poles tied together in a
domed shape. The pit, where the heated stones are placed, rests in the center of the lodge. The door is placed facing the
East, with the fire that heats the stones about 10 feet in front of the door. An altar, on which participants can place sacred
objects before the ceremony, rests in between.

Native American spiritual traditions. The
Green River Preserve, located on a 3,400-
acre private wildlife reserve, aims to teach
campers appreciation for the natural world
through outdoor activities as well as Native
American traditions such as the sweat lodge.
Ben Wyrick, an educator at the preserve,
led the ceremony I participated in. While
fashioned mostly after a Lakota-style lodge,
it was what Wyrick calls a Green River-style
sweat lodge, meaning that the process was
inspired by Native American culture but
adapted for the camp’s uses.
The history
At the preserve, the sweat lodge is a
small part of the camp experience. Only
a few staff members have the knowledge
to lead them, and they’re only offered as
an optional activity for older campers. But
in the Native American culture, the sweat
lodge is an important tradition with a deep,
complicated history.
The Spanish were the first Europeans
to describe a sweat lodge-type ceremony
among the native peoples of Mexico, but the
practice is not specific to any tribe or native
culture, or even to North America. Various
types of sweat lodges can be found every-
where in the world, and the customs vary
from culture to culture. Depending on the
specific tribe and tradition, lodges can be
made from willow poles, mounds of earth or
planks of cedar. Sometimes the heat comes
from a fire built within the lodge, and some-
times it comes from steam created by water
poured on hot stones.
Today, most modern sweat lodges in
North America are fashioned after the
Lakota-style sweat lodge, called an Inipi.
This style of lodge is typically made of sap-
lings bent into a dome shape and covered
with blankets, tarps or hides. The heat
comes from stones that are heated on a
fire outside the lodge, then brought into
the lodge and doused with water to create
steam.
Due to its increasingly widespread prac-
tice today, the sweat lodge can be a contro-
versial topic. The Inipi is one of the Seven
Sacred Rites of the Lakota people, meaning
the ceremony is a sacred experience and
an important element of the Lakota cul-
ture. But many modern ceremonies claim-
ing to be Native American sweat lodges are
innacurate imitations. The practice attracted
press and criticism in 2009 when a pseudo
sweat lodge in Arizona, part of a meditation
and spirituality conference led by self-help
author James Arthur Ray, left two people
dead and another 19 hospitalized.
Because of such inauthentic replicas that
exploit the tradition for personal gain, the
commercialization and practice of sweat
lodges by outsiders are points of contention
for many Native Americans. Some
believe that the privi-
lege of leading, or
pouring, a sweat
lodge should
be reserved for
Natives. But
others believe that the sweat lodge, when
conducted with proper respect, is a powerful
way for interested and respectful outsiders
to learn about and connect with the culture.
The process
At the preserve, the sweat lodge is mod-
eled after the Lakota Inipi. In this tradi-
tion, the preparation is an important part
of the process, from assembling the lodge
to building the fire. Each step has a special
meaning to the ceremony. “It takes so much
preparation, but that’s what’s cool about it,”
Wyrick says. In the sweat lodges he leads,
participants make prayer ties, pinches of
tobacco wrapped in colored pieces of cloth,
as part of the preparation. Each prayer tie
represents one of the cardinal directions and
one of the four rounds of the sweat lodge.
“Making the prayer ties gets you to think
about what you want to accomplish in the
ceremony,” he says.
The actual ceremony consists of four
rounds, one for each cardinal direction.
The length can vary considerably depend-
ing on the type of sweat lodge, but in the
ones Wyrick leads, each round is roughly
15 minutes long. After all the preparations
have been made and the
participants have
entered the lodge,

WINTER+Spring 2011 49
 the leader begins the sweat by bringing
in the red-hot stones, called Grandfathers
or Stone People, and dousing them with
water.
During each round, participants sing,
chant, talk to one another and pray to the
Wakan Tanka, or Great Mystery. At the
beginning of each round, the leader splashes
the stones with more water, creating more
steam – and more heat. The temperature in a
sweat lodge can also vary, but it is generally
similar to the heat in a sauna, around 100
degrees Fahrenheit.
The first round is for the East, and the
focus of that round is on hope and new
beginnings. The second round, for the
South, is about putting thought into action.
“I also associate physical healing with that
round,” Wyrick says. “If you want to pray
for someone who’s sick, that’s a good time
to do it.” The third round, for the West, is
about endings and finding closure. The final
round, the round for the North and the hot-
test of them all, is about self-reflection and
improvement. “You turn your gaze inward
and think about how you can improve your-
self,” Wyrick says. “You think about, what
wisdom do you have to make yourself a
better person?”
Photo/Jeff Talbott
Ben Wyrick, an educator at The Green
River Preserve summer camp, learned
how to lead a sweat lodge while work-
ing at the camp. “I always thought
Indians were so cool because they live
so close to the earth,” he says.
50
When you go into the sweat lodge, you
come out as a brand new human being.
The purpose
Because of its rich history and tradition,
the sweat lodge ceremony is attached to
many legends and layers of symbolism.
Most commonly, the experience is believed
to symbolize a rebirth. “When you enter
the lodge, you’re re-entering the womb of
mother earth, and when you exit you’re
being reborn out onto the world,” says
Steve Willig, a former staff member at the
preserve. After becoming interested in
Native American culture during the 1980s,
Willig learned the rituals of the sweat lodge
from several Native teachers from differ-
ent tribes, including a Blackfoot elder from
Montana and Dennis Banks, the co-founder
of the American Indian Movement in the
1970s. After four years of training, Willig
was authorized by Lakota elders to lead
sweat lodges in the Lakota tradition. He
has been leading them for about 20 years. “I
liked the symbolism of it,” he says. “I clearly
remember when I exited the sweat lodge
that first time, having that sense of being
reborn and looking up and seeing the stars
and seeing the silhouettes of the trees in a
very fresh way.”
For many, the ceremony is largely about
the spiritual experience. “The main purpose
of a sweat lodge is for everybody to go in
and pray and to get closer to the Creator
and the spirits,” says Willig. “In the Ameri-
can Indian tradition, we believe that spir-
its are real and that they will listen to you
when you talk to them and when you pray
and that they’ll help you,” he says. Willig
has participated in several lodges where
participants come to pray about a specific
person or situation. “But other times,” he
says, “people get together simply in order
to renew their connection to the Creator
and to pray.”
But just as the actual process can differ
among tribes and types of lodges, so can the
purpose of a lodge. Aside from the spiritual
purpose, the ceremony has been used for
both physical and mental healing, a kind of
purification of body and mind. Depending
on the specific sweat, it can be a bonding
experience within a community or a per-
sonal spiritual journey.
The campers
But at The Green River Preserve, the
focus is on learning. While the campers
can benefit from the spiritual and cleans-
ing aspects of a sweat, the main purpose of
Earth+Sky
the sweat lodge at the preserve is to share
aspects of Native American culture with
campers. “I love working with kids in gen-
eral, and doing sacred work like that with
kids was very powerful to me,” says Willig.
Wyrick says he enjoys sharing the sweat
lodge ceremony with campers because it’s
a type of experience that few of them have
the opportunity to participate in outside
of the preserve. Aside from learning about
a culture outside their own, they have the
chance to benefit from a powerful spiri-
tual experience. “I think there are very few
really high-powered religious experiences
in the lives of these kids,” he says. “It’s not
just a preacher preaching at them. It’s a
totally new experience.”
There are, of course, differences in the
experience when sharing it with children.
The process has to be camp-friendly, which
means that some traditional practices, such
as participants being nude, aren’t appropri-
ate. “The first time I [led a sweat lodge] for
kids, I was a little unsure of how they would
take to it,” says Willig. Wyrick agrees that
leading the ceremony for campers, most
of whom have never experienced anything
like a sweat lodge before, requires a dif-
ferent mindset and being attuned to the
campers’ concerns. “It’s a unique experi-
ence,” he says. “It can be scary.”
Traditionally, sweat lodge participants
often fast before the ceremony. Wyrick
always fasts on days he leads a sweat lodge
at the preserve, but although he encour-
ages the children to fast if they feel com-
fortable, he recognizes that it can be too
difficult for campers who have never expe-
rienced fasting before. “You should never
force a kid to do things,“ he says. He holds
the same philosophy when it comes to the
intensity of the ceremony. While he wants
it to be an authentic experience for the
campers, he also wants it to be a safe and
positive experience. “I like people to be
pushed to their limits, but to be able to
stay in the whole time,” he says.
But in the end, the staff who have led
lodges at the preserve say the experience
has been positive for them. “It was very
inspiring to do it with the young people
there,” says Willig. “I found that they did
everything just right. They were respectful
of the ceremony and of the protocol that
one’s supposed to follow. They went in with
the right intention – to pray and to feel
closer to the earth and to everything that
 D
uring a traditional
Lakota-style sweat
lodge, participants sing
songs and chant in the
Lakota language. The Four Direc-
tions song is traditionally sung at
the beginning of the ceremony.
“It’s supposed to welcome in all
the Grandfathers, all the spirits,
from all four directions,” educator
Ben Wyrick says. “It’s a welcom-
ing song.” The cross symbol in
red, yellow, white and black rep-
resents the four directions, an
integral part of Lakota spiritual
traditions. Each cardinal direction
is associated with a color and a
representative meaning. Although
it varies among groups and indi-
viduals, one of the most common
interpretations is this:
BLACK: West+Power
RED: East+Enlightenment
WHITE: North+Wisdom
YELLOW: South+Innocence
we live on earth with.”
Mike Sanderson, a biologist and former
staff member at the preserve, led sweat
lodges for rising 9th- through 12th-graders
as part of the preserve’s programs for high
school-age students. He says the camp-
ers’ age and inexperience only make the
ceremony more powerful for everyone
involved. “In terms of the quality of the
experience, I think probably the best sweat
lodges that I’ve ever done have been with
those kids,” he says. “I think there’s an
honesty about that age. It’s a big transi-
tional period in your life. And when you
go into the sweat lodge, you come out as
a brand new human being. They were the
most powerful sweat lodges I’ve ever been
a part of.”
The modern sweat lodge
With so many different types of sweat
lodges and the controversy surrounding
lodges led by non-Natives, Willig says he’s
very careful to only participate in lodges
led by people he feels are not only quali-
fied, but also leading them with the right
attitude and respect for the ceremony.
“There are, I’m sure, a lot of people who
Translated by Calvin Standing Bear, a full Oglala/
Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud reservation of
South Dakota.
Wiohpeyata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo
Ahitunwan yankelo
Waziyatakiya etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo
Ahitunwan yankelo
Wiohinhpayata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo
Ahitunwan yankelo
Itokagata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo
Ahitunwan yankelo
will simply do them without really knowing
what they’re doing, without really having
the experience that one should have,” he
says. “I think that most people who do
them have the right intentions, but I think
that just having the right intentions isn’t
always enough.”
Sanderson emphasizes that Green River-
style sweats, while based on a traditional
Lakota sweat, are never presented as any-
thing more than inspired by Native culture.
“We were very careful to make clear that we
were not trying to be Cherokee or Navajo or
Lakota or anything like that,” he says. “We
would honor their traditions, but didn’t
try to make it something that it wasn’t.”
Sanderson, who learned the specifics of
leading a sweat lodge from both white and
Native teachers at the preserve, believes
the intention of the leader is most impor-
tant. “I asked [my Native teachers] their
opinion,” he says, “And they all pretty much
said the same thing. The sweat lodge – no
one owns it. No one has a copyright on
it. As long as you’re being as honorable
as you can toward the traditions of the
cultures you know, then they didn’t see
any problem with it.”
WINTER+Spring 2011
Look toward the West
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him
He is sitting there looking this way
Look toward the North
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him
He is sitting there looking this way
Look toward the East
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him
He is sitting there looking this way
Look toward the South
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him
He is sitting there looking this way
The experience
Seeing nothing but the glowing red
rocks and hearing nothing but the sizzle
and hiss of water bursting into puffs of
steam, I began my first sweat lodge cer-
emony with a mixture of excitement and
apprehension. And it was an intense, dif-
ficult experience. But conquering those
fears and embracing the difficulties meant
that I had the opportunity to experience
something unlike anything else I have ever
experienced. “There’s no greater sense of
being directly in the moment than in the
sweat lodge,” says Sanderson. “It’s probably
the most powerful meditative and spiritual
cleansing experience that I know of.”
At the end, when I crawled out of the
stifling heat and collapsed onto the cool
earth, I felt grateful to be finally breathing
cool, dry air. But I also felt grateful to have
experienced such an important aspect of
Native American culture. I gained a deeper
appreciation of the complexity and impor-
tance of this ritual. “Sweat lodges are a very
powerful practice,” says Willig. “They can be
very transformative to a person and really
help to keep one connected to one’s spirit
and to the universal spirit.”
51
 PHOTO/ELIZABETH CHOE

By Jacqueline Scott

52 Earth+Sky
 Two students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Both
grew up in Lumberton, N.C., and both are members of the Lumbee
tribe. Each, however, has a different way of celebrating and honoring
her culture.
Take One
A M
pril Hammonds, a 21-year-old Lumbee
Indian, grew up in Lumberton, N.C.
Though only a 10-minute drive
separated her from Pembroke, N.C., the center
of the Lumbee tribe, Hammonds was exposed
more to diversity in the classroom at a young
age than she was to the Lumbee culture.
Her family chose not to attend powwows, and
she didn’t wear Native American regalia. She
attended a more modern Christian church rather
than the traditional Native American church.
Despite joking with classmates that her family
celebrates Thanksgiving by pitching a tepee in
her backyard, slaughtering a turkey and donning
buffalo hides, Hammonds celebrates her heritage
through pride alone. The activities, outfits and
beliefs do not define the culture for her.
“For me, my parents aren’t in tune with
Native American culture,” she says. “I did have
a different childhood than what people would
define as Lumbee. My parents raised me for me
to know I was Lumbee.”
Isolated from the large number of Native
Americans in Pembroke, Hammonds was exposed
to diversity in high school. She was surrounded
by all ethnicities.
Diversity beckoned Hammonds to the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her decision was never based on finding a
school boasting a large percentage of Native
American students. If that was the case, she
could have gone to school 10 minutes away to
the University of North Carolina at Pembroke,
home of an American Indian studies department.
UNC-Pembroke was established in 1887 for
Native Americans. Since 1953, it has had a multi-
racial student body. Because of its heritage, the
university offers a program to educate students
about the rich diversity of Native American
history and culture. Many Native American
professors teach the classes.
Native Americans account for 16 percent of
UNC-Pembroke’s student population, the third-
largest ethnicity after Caucasians and blacks.
One visit to UNC-Chapel Hill, however,
cemented Hammonds’ affinity for the diversity
seen in students. Her decision was not
contingent on surrounding herself with other
Native Americans. Native Americans account
for less than 1 percent of the student body. But
Hammonds was determined to bring awareness
WINTER+Spring 2011
Take Two
organ Locklear, a 20-year-old Lumbee
Indian, grew up in Lumberton, N.C.
Throughout her childhood, she often
visited her grandparents at their home in Pem-
broke, N.C. Even today, she spends most of her
time in Pembroke while home because of those
deep ties to friends and family.
Locklear attended a Native American
church, advised by her parents to keep in
touch with her culture. Locklear’s family also
attended powwows.
“Native American church, for me, was like
going to church with a big family,” she says.
“Everyone knew everybody, and people felt free
to say what they wanted and to worship how they
wanted without the feeling of being judged.”
The Native American church is a religious
denomination that practices Peyotism. Peyotist
beliefs, which combine Native American and
Christian elements, vary from tribe to tribe.
They involve worship of the Great Spirit, a
supreme deity who deals with humans through
various other spirits. In many tribes peyote
is personified as Peyote Spirit and is associ-
ated with Jesus. The Native American Church
refuses to accept the doctrines or canons of
any one Christian sect. Its practices and beliefs
attempt to reconcile Christianity with tradi-
tional Native symbolism.
Ritual life centers on the use of peyote, a
small, spineless cactus that contains stimulants
related to sedatives related to morphine. Native
Americans believe that peyote enables them
to partake of the Holy Spirit, as Christians do
through the wine of the eucharist.
Locklear worships those spirits through sing-
ing old hymns and rejoicing during sermons.
Through dance and ritual at powwows, Locklear
honors her ancestors.
“We give thanks to those who came before us to
give us the freedom to practice our religion today.”
Attending a small Lumberton private school,
Locklear was one of three Native Americans,
along with her two younger brothers. Early on,
her parents taught her and her brothers about
their heritage and to take pride in it, even when
they, as Native Americans, accounted for a small
percentage of their student body.
Then, in 10th grade, she and her brothers
switched to a Pembroke high school. The stu-
dent population was about 90 percent Native
53

April
Hammonds
PHOTO/ALEX PEGG
to her culture and to participate in Native
American organizations.
“It was a huge thing for me as a
minority student,” she says. “I wanted
to be a part of my culture but yet I didn’t
want to be so immersed in it. Coming to
Carolina, I was not a leader. I was kind
of shy. I didn’t know how I was going to
leave a mark on Carolina.”
As a senior sociology major, Hammonds
has explored the roots of her culture since
freshman year by becoming active in
different organizations, including Project
Uplift, an organization that promotes
access to diversity within the student,
faculty and staff community.
When class topics segue to Native
Americans, her interest is piqued,
“I’ve always had a love for education,”
she says. “We’ve talked about Native
Americans in my sociology classes. People
were surprised they still existed. Even
though we make up less than 1 percent
of the student body, we do exist, and it’s
my purpose to get the word out. I want
to rekindle that fire. I want people to
embrace diversity and their race.”
Those few discussions of Native
Americans, however, opened her eyes to
the ignorance of peers to her culture. That
54
one class provided her with her answer:
she would leave her mark on UNC-Chapel
Hill by educating others.
Hammonds is president of the Carolina
Indian Circle–an organization that assists
Native American students academically
and socially– president of Alpha Pi Omega
– a Native American interest sorority–
and vice president of the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
– an organization that hopes to increase
representation of Native Americans in
fields of science. But her involvement
doesn’t end there. She also volunteers
at the campus American Indian Center,
located on campus, and heads the
campus Minority Student Recruitment
Committee (MSRC).
“I’ve learned to have this deep love
for these organizations because I want
to make that mark on students,” she
says. “I want these students to give
back to UNC and influence students to
embrace minorities.”
When she was a freshman, Hammonds
struggled to find acceptance from others,
even from her own culture. She became
involved in campus clubs, but despite the
camaraderie among her peers, there was
a still a sense of alienation.
PEMBROKE
Earth+Sky
Even though
we make up
less than 1
percent of the
student body,
we do exist. I
want to rekin-
dle that fire. I
want people
to embrace
diversity and
their race.
“At first glance, no one knows what
you are,” she says. “You’re probably the
first Native American person people
will meet at college. People are very
ignorant about what Native American
culture is. People think that because
I’m not wearing regalia, I’m really not
Native American.”
Hammonds says people were often
puzzled about her ethnicity because of
her hair, light skin and the lack of dialect,
all of which did not conform to their
views of Native Americans and Lumbees.
The Lumbee dialect is described as a
rich Southern accent. While Hammonds
does speak with a Southern accent,
people heard the distinction in her accent
compared to other Lumbee students.
“I’ve come to the terms with the fact
that me being Lumbee doesn’t define me,”
she says. “My parents didn’t want me
to use my race as a crutch. They wanted
me to do things on my own with no
constraints. I have come to terms with
the fact that though I may have not grown
up in Pembroke, that doesn't mean I can't
be Lumbee.
“Being Lumbee or Native American
is greater than the communities we
stem from.”
Tracing the Tribe
The 55,000 members of the Lumbee
tribe of North Carolina reside primar-
ily in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and
 My
grandparents
and parents
alike have
taught me
that I can
do anything
regardless of
where I come
from or my
race.
American. It was a complete 180-degree
turn – going from diversity exposure
as an outsider in a private school to
immersion in her own culture at a
public school.
“I wanted to be around people of my
own culture,” she says. “I wanted to
actually experience being around my
own people. It was very different trans-
ferring schools because since I had not
grown up with these kids, I was consid-
ered an outsider. I dressed differently
and spoke differently.
“This was culture shock in a way for me
considering I had never been to school
with other Native students.”
While no students wore Native Ameri-
can costume or regalia, Locklear says she
felt her style was more modernized. Now
at a school with people of her own ethnic-
ity, she felt a sense of alienation.
“I wore clothes that resembled the
Caucasian counterparts I went to pri-
vate school with,” she says. “Many of the
kids could tell I was a transfer student
by my accent. They could automatically
tell where I was from. They would say I
would talk ‘white.’”
The need for college diversity and her
family’s legacy at UNC-Chapel Hill led her
Scotland counties. The Lumbee tribe
is the largest tribe in North Carolina,
the largest tribe east of the Missis-
sippi River and the ninth largest in the
nation. The Lumbee take their name
from the Lumbee River that winds its
way through Robeson County. Pem-
broke, N.C., is the economic, cultural
and political center of the tribe.
to follow in the footsteps of her father
who attended UNC’s medical school,
her mother, who attended the School
of Public Health and her brother who is
currently attending medical school. That
sense of legacy created a deep tie to the
community and the university.
“Growing up, I came to UNC all the
time, whether for football games or
medical conferences with my parents,”
she says. “I feel that I was exposed to
diversity in my early childhood, more
than the other students coming from
my high school. But I feel that no other
diversity can compare to Carolina’s level
of diversity.”
Outside of church and powwows,
Locklear honors her culture on campus
through involvement of various clubs.
She is a member of the Carolina Indian
Circle, an organization that assists
Native American students academi-
cally and socially, and Alpha Pi Omega,
a Native American interest sorority. Like
Hammonds, Locklear realizes the igno-
rance and lack of knowledge about her
culture and its existence.
“Many people do not know about Native
Americans, or even know we are alive, so
it is important to tell about our heritage,”
The Lumbee are the present-day
descendants of the Cheraw Tribe
and have continuously existed in and
around Robeson County since the
early part of the eighteenth century.
In 1885, the tribe was recognized as
Indian by the State of North Caro-
lina. The tribe has sought full federal
recognition from the U.S. Government
WINTER+Spring 2011
Morgan
Locklear
PHOTO/ALEX PEGG
she says. “When I first came to college,
when people found out I was Native Amer-
ican, they thought I did live in a tepee or
on a reservation. Many also thought that
I was a first-generation college student
coming from a poor family.”
As proud as she is of her heritage, it has
also brought her some frustrations when
facing stereotypes from peers.
“I feel that we as Native Americans
are usually just lumped together due
to our small populations,” she says. “I
think due to the massive numbers of
tribes, it is just hard not to lump us all
together in one group.”
Locklear celebrates Thanksgiving with
the same traditions and foods as other
American families. Despite her heritage
and upbringing in a Native American
church, her family has no special rituals
or traditions to celebrate their ancestry.
However, her family does not forget its
cultural roots.
They continue to attend a Native
American church and attend powwows
to foster that pride for their heritage.
“My g randparents and parents
alike have taught me that I can do
any thing regardless of where I come
from or my race.”
since 1888.
In 1956, Congress passed the Lum-
bee Act, which recognized the tribe
as Indian. However, the Act withheld
the full benefits of federal recognition
from the tribe. Efforts are currently
underway to pass federal legislation
that grants full recognition to the
Lumbee tribe of North Carolina.
55
56
jsquared photography
FamilY
Fortune
FAME
Up close with Chaske Spencer, from his life on
the reservation to his role in ‘Twilight’
By Lauren Ratcliffe
I
t takes a lot of hard work and a little luck to
make it big – especially when you’re start-
ing in poverty. Just ask Chaske Spencer. At
21 years old, Spencer bought a one-way
ticket to New York City to make something
of his life with only $100 in his pocket. He
found his way into acting, and now, at age 35,
he says he’s just getting to the point where he
can afford to be choosy with his roles. He’s
done the stereotypical Native American role,
but is determined to break out of that box
and be seen as an actor – who just happens
to be Native. And his latest role, as Sam Uley
in “The Twilight Saga,” has opened doors in
his career to roles not specifically designed
for Native Americans. His character is part
of a modern interpretation of the creation
story of the Quileute, a native tribe out of
La Push, Wash., In the story, the Quileute
people are descendants of wolves. The phe-
nomena surrounding the “Twilight” series,
and Spencer’s role in “New Moon,” “Eclipse”
and the soon-to-be-released “Breaking Dawn”
films has opened doors to mainstream roles
in American cinema.
Spencer was born in Oklahoma, but also
lived in Idaho and Montana as a child. He
spent time on three reservations: Northern
Cheyenne and Fort Peck in Montana and
the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. He is
part Lakota Sioux, Nez Perce, Cherokee and
Creek, and for him the reservation brings up
thoughts of home. “It’s a family there,” he
says. “I had a big family.” The culture of the
reservation, Spencer says, is one of commu-
nity and humor. The essence of that humor
is something he says he’d like to see cap-
tured on the silver screen, if it could be done
I love Indian humor
and the laughter
that comes with it.
without exploiting his culture. “I love Indian
humor and the laughter that comes with it,”
he says. “I think on the reservation some-
times it can be really bad, and sometimes
there’s nothing else but to laugh about it.”
And life on the reservation did have its
drawbacks. Spencer says he grew up around
poverty, alcoholism and high unemploy-
ment rates. “I don’t want to bring the res-
ervations down because I had some good
times there,” he says. “It shaped me for who
I am now.” The reservations gave him strong
WINTER+Spring 2011
roots, which he brings to each of his roles.
As a boy, Spencer says, there wasn’t much to
do on the reservation, so he and his friends
would invent games and role-play. “We had
to make our own games,” he says. “So, we
had a lot of riding around on bikes, playing
cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians – no
pun intended. Just a lot of adventures and
stuff like that.” Those games helped give
Spencer skills that would one day bring him
to his future career. When Spencer moved
to New York, he says the adjustment wasn’t
as dramatic as might be expected. “I was
really fortunate with my parents because
they really pushed me. They were very sup-
portive of me getting out there, especially
when I was a kid, being able to go away on
summers – so I wasn’t stuck on the reserva-
tion.” And while the adjustment to the city
was smooth, finding work wasn’t always
so seamless: he acknowledges that early in
his career he had to take whatever acting
jobs would pay the bills, and he was often
pigeonholed into playing the stereotypical
Native. His first movie credit, in the 2002
film “Skins,” was the character of young
Rudy, a Sioux boy. His next movie role was
in a TV movie set on a reservation in South
Dakota – his character’s name was Eagle
Boy. But putting in time as the stereotypical
57

Native gave him time and experience that
would lead to opportunity.
The time put in and experience gained
early in his career opened doors for Spen-
cer, who now enjoys freedom in choosing
his own roles. He also runs his own pro-
duction company, called Urban Dreams,
which affords him the liberty to pick and
produce pieces that avoid stereotyping his
culture. With the success of the “Twilight”
series, Spencer has seen doors open in his
career. Outside of the series, Spencer says he
just finished the movie “Shouting Secrets,”
which is set to be released in 2011.
For those looking to follow Spencer in
breaking down stereotypes in a public way,
he’s got some advice: Know yourself. For
him, becoming successful was not about
choosing between mainstream American
culture and his heritage, and he says it’s
possible to have both. “You don’t have to
abandon your culture,” Spencer says. “I’m,
like, neck-deep in my culture. There’s a bal-
ance, but you don’t have to mix the two up.”
And when put in situations that may com-
promise that sense of cultural pride, Spencer
offers this tip on staying grounded: “You’ve
got to know yourself very well. You’ve got to
know who you are and be comfortable with
who you are. And you know something? If
you don’t feel comfortable, just don’t do it.
It’s just a movie or a play.”
58
Growing up on
several reservations
throughout
Montana and Idaho,
Spencer says the
sense of humor
shaped him as an
actor and a man.
Spencer says he’s
now enjoying
the freedom to
be picky with
roles, but admits
he often played
stereotypical roles
when he first
started acting.
jsquared photography
courtes
y of CHaske
Spencer
Culture in ‘Twilight’
The wolves in “The Twilight Saga” are any distinguishable accent. From the
based on the Quileute Tribe, from La Native American community, Spencer
Push, Wash. The phenomenon cre- says there has been lots of support
ated by the success of the “Twilight” because of the interest in culture that
books by Stephanie Meyer and the the movies spawned. “I’m really blown
five films based on them has led some away and also excited at the fact that
fans to want to know more about the there are kids all over the world that
culture. But with the “Hollywood-izing” are interested in culture and it’s only
of the Quileute creation story comes based on one tribe,” Spencer says. “But
an advancement of some stereotypes it opens doors to other tribes, and [the
and a blurring of cultural truth. In the fans] find out what kind of tribe we are
movies, the wolves are a tribe of Native and they’re interested in that, so that’s
Americans who become werewolves. cool.”
The two main male love interests are
a vampire, Edward, and a werewolf,
Jacob. The movies capture the tension
between them. The real creation story
of the Quileute claims that a folklore
hero turned two wolves into people
– the Quileute. In Seattle, a museum
exhibit was prompted by the movies
to showcase cultural truths about
the tribe. Spencer says he thinks the
movies have done more good than
harm, but acknowledges the slippery
slope the roles were on. images/summit entertaiment llc
“It’s a double-edged sword. Some
people say it promotes stereotypes,
but it hasn’t been taken on like that.
We’re not really stereotyped in the way
with the long hair or speaking the res-
ervation accent, we’re pretty contem-
porary,” Spencer says. In “The Twilight
Saga” the wolves all have short-cut
hair, wear blue jeans and speak without
Earth+Sky
 Historically
IN accurate
How schools across America are altering the way
they teach Native American history and culture

PHOTO/ISTOCKPHOTO

60 Earth+Sky
By Emily Evans
epees, bows and arrows and riding
T wild horses. Living in the forest,
chanting wild songs and wearing
facepaint. These are typical ste-
reotypes of early Native American life, and
though many have been proved false through
research into the time period, until recently
many schools have helped perpetuate those
stereotypes by including them in lesson plans.
The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the
worst offenders in carrying out false stereo-
types. Pilgrims, dressed in black with square-
toed shoes, and Native Americans, in buck-
skin and brightly colored feathers, carving
turkey and enjoying the first Thanksgiving
together. Natives, teaching the Pilgrims how
to fish, where to grow corn. Pilgrims, teach-
ing the Natives their religion and introduc-
ing them to technology. What elementary
school child hasn’t heard or even re-enacted
these scenarios? History tells us that this isn’t
exactly what happened during the Pilgrims’
fateful first winter in their new American
home, but classrooms across the U.S. have
been filled with construction paper turkeys
and visions of the legend for years. Research-
ers have shown that while Pilgrims and Native
Americans did work together, there’s little
evidence they shared a celebratory feast. They
didn’t cook turkey (one source even claims
that it is more likely they ate eel, after learn-
ing how to catch it), and the relationships
forged between the two groups were fraught
with tension.
As time has passed, teachers have begun
to change the way they teach their students
about the history and culture of Native Amer-
icans. The U.S. Department of Education cre-
ated the Bureau of Indian Education to aid
teachers in this goal and to also ensure that
children coming from these cultural back-
grounds “achieve to the same challenging
state standards as all students,” according
to the bureau’s website. The bureau got more
muscle when the “No Child Left Behind” act
charged it with ensuring that what was taught
in the classroom was research-based, rather
than just the stuff of legend.
Progress is being made on smaller, local
levels as well, and it’s not just schools at the
front of the movement. One great example
is the North Carolina Museum of History,
which works with teachers in and around the
state of North Carolina.
Emily Grant, youth programs coordina-
tor at the museum, explains that her staff
works with the state’s teachers to supple-
ment the information children receive about
Native Americans with historically accurate
hands-on activities and exhibits. It’s a much-
needed service, she says. “One of the larg-
est number of requests for information we
receive at the museum from teachers is about
American Indian history and culture in our
state,” Grant says.
“We started hosting an annual American
Indian Heritage Celebration for the general
public 15 years ago and that sparked even
more interest in American Indian history
here. Teachers wanted accurate, updated
information and connection to current com-
munities. So, we decided to expand the public
event and [reserve] one day just for students
and teachers,” Grant says. “It has become so
popular we have to cut off enrollment for the
education day at 2,000 people.”
Grant says that the programming on the
school-specific heritage celebration day mir-
rors what the state of North Carolina has
mapped out in its standard course of study
on Native Americans, which all public schools
must follow. The guidelines are an example of
modernized lesson plans about Native Ameri-
cans, and many states (including Ohio, Vir-
ginia, Arizona and Minnesota, to name a few)
all across the country have followed suit. The
North Carolina plan includes five competency
goals, two of which focus on teaching issues
that modern Native Americans face, including
health problems and stereotypes. Learn about
Native American education in your state by
visiting the bureau’s website, www.bie.edu/
schools/index.htm.
“I believe most teachers truly want to learn
about American Indian history and culture
and want to avoid stereotypes,” Grant says.
“For a long time, American Indian history was
told incorrectly, from only one perspective or
left out completely. That has been changing
over the past 20 years as people become more
global in their perspective and access to pri-
mary source material is more readily available.
“Although the November events get the
most attention because they are the largest
and November is National American Indian
Heritage Month, we do programs on Ameri-
can Indian history all year long,” she says,
adding that lesson plans for teachers across
the country are available on the museum’s
website.
Many positive steps are being taken to
discover, research and correct prejudices
and errors in the historically over-roman-
ticized history of Native Americans. “As
with anything, there is always room for
improvement,” Grant says. With the help
of local museums and rich online resources,
teachers needn’t look far to bring the latest
research into their classrooms.
WINTER+Spring 2011
LEARN MORE
There are many other resources
available for teachers wanting to
go beyond the stereotypes in their
lessons about Native Americans.
• The website
UnderstandingPrejudice.org has
good tips for teachers on avoiding
accidental prejudices in daily
classroom work, not just during
lessons specifically focused on
Native Americans.
• The Clearinghouse on Early
Education and Parenting, part of
the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, has information on
specific inaccuracies commonly
taught about Native Americans and
ways to combat them. See http://
ceep.crc.uiuc.edu.
• Finally, researchers and teachers
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of
Education have teamed up with
tribe members to create an online
curriculum kit available to anyone
wishing to learn more about Native
Americans in his or her spare time.
Visit www.learnnc.org for more
information.
Check it out
Want to see what the N.C. Museum
of History is doing for Native
American education firsthand?
Get there: Fly into Raleigh-Durham
International Airport
Location: 5 E. Edenton St.,
Raleigh, N.C. 27601
The museum is located in
downtown Raleigh, N.C., between
the state’s Capitol and legislative
buildings. Call 919-807-7900 for
more information.
Hours: Monday through Saturday:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday: noon to
5 p.m.
Admission: free
Native American exhibit: Visit
“Community and Culture: North
Carolina Indians Past and Present.”
Resources, including interactive
timelines and virtual museum
field trips, are available at the
museum’s website,
http://ncmuseumofhistory.org.
61
 Association
on American
Indian Affairs
The organization provides scholarships,
sets up youth camps, preserves Native
languages, educates about health
issues and helps pass legislation for
sacred lands
By Jacqueline Scott
E
stablished in 1957, the Association
on American Indian Affairs (AAIA)
works to sustain the cultures, lan-
guages and rights of Native Ameri-
cans. AAIA’s programs are divided into four
categories: youth/education, health, cultural
preservation and sovereignty.
As the oldest native advocacy and empow-
erment organization, it works to preserve
Native languages, to provide legal support
to protect sacred places, to repatriate sacred
objects to tribes and to fight for child welfare.
Over the years the association has played
a critical role in a host of landmark events
that benefit Natives; the AAIA helped draft
many pivotal laws, including the Indian
Child Welfare Act, the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
and the Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act.
AAIA helped create the Medicine Wheel
Coalition, a coalition of Plains Tribes who
have a traditional history of using the Medi-
cine Wheel and Medicine Mountain for spiri-
tual purposes.
AAIA also helps fight developments that
will have adverse impacts upon sacred places,
such as the San Francisco Peaks located in
northern central Arizona.
62 Earth+Sky
Golden eagle fans or feathers, though,
have become a hot issue in the Native Ameri-
can community, a legislative issue that AAIA,
together with the Native American Rights
Fund and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, is
pursuing.
Fans or feathers from the tails of golden
eagles command a high price on the illegal
market, according to the Fish and Wildlife
Service.
“We don’t want people to feel at risk
because of possible actions by commercial
traders or others,” Jack Trope, AAIA’S direc-
tor, said.
AAIA will be part of a working group with
NARF that is “trying to look at this from a
national perspective” and to determine its
scope and an appropriate strategy, Trope
said.
“The things we do affect all tribes,” said
AAIA’s executive assitant, Lisa Wyzlic.
“We’ve lobbied for legislation to pass. We go
out and do training on Indian child welfare.”
On the grassroots level, AAIA funds
camps, scholarships and language programs.
Various tribal organizations across the U.S.
set up camps and submit grant proposals
to AAIA.
AAIA funded seven youth camps in 2009.
 PHOTO/AAIA

AAIA funds several youth camps where participants learn about their language
and participate in activites while using their Native language

Recently, AAIA funded a basketball camp in are from federally recognized tribes and
Alaska and taught in the tribe’s language. who are at least one-fourth Indian blood THe San
Through these camps, AAIA bolsters its mis- unless otherwise stated in the scholarship Francisco
sion to preserve the Native American lan- specifications. Peaks
guage. Other camps assist children in devot- Hillary Renick, Pomo, received the
The peaks, mountains
ing time to community service projects. Sequoyah Graduate Scholarship. She orga- in northern Arizona, are
“I’m talking major service projects – dig- nized the Sherwood Valley Youth summer sacred to 13 Southwest
ging ditches, using chain saws,” Wyzlic said. camp in 2009. Renick taught workshops on Indian tribes and hundreds
AAIA provides eight scholarships to vari- healthy traditions and foods, role models of thousands of Native
ous individuals, including displaced home- and activities. Americans, and play a
central role in the religious
makers and those who seek emergency aid. “After a week of healthy Indian food, practices of many of those
In the past, AAIA has provided assistance including deer, elk, salmon, roots and sea- tribes.
to displaced homemakers who cannot food, the children did not once ask for soda On March 13, 2007, the
afford their monthly heating bills and to or candy,” she said. “On my way home, I Navajo Nation v. United
commuter students with slashed tires. All admit that I stopped at Taco Bell for my States Forest Service
case established that the
scholarships are provided to students who ‘number eight,’ and it tasted disgusting.” proposed use of treated
sewage for snow making
Visit http://www.indian-affairs.org to find out more information or to donate. at the San Francisco Peaks
violated the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act.
The Ninth Circuit Court
The Bighorn Medicine Wheel and Medicine of Appeals found that
Mountain in Wyoming are sacred lands to the environmental impact
many Plains tribes. statement prepared by
Numerous contemporary Native American the Forest Service was
staging areas can be found nearby. They inadequate.
include medicinal and ceremonial plant For these reasons, the
gathering areas, sweat lodge sites, altars court issued an injunction
and fasting enclosures. prohibiting the snow-
making project from
progressing.

WINTER+Spring 2011 63
 Rooted
i n t h e Wa t e r

up close with

By Lauren Ratcliffe
64 Earth+Sky
 Q: Who are
the members

O
ut of the swamplands of eastern of Dark Water
North Carolina, the members of
DarkWaterRisingareindeedcoming
Rising? Tell me
up out of the waters and into the
a little about
spotlight. With the release of its self-titled yourselves.
album last year, the group was nominated for
the debut duo or group award at the Native
A: We’re all Native Ameri­
American Music Awards. After touring its home
cans, Lumbee and Coharie.
state of North Carolina, the group has high
We grew up in Robeson
hopes for its future. Members Eric Locklear,
and Hoke counties in
Ciera Dial Locklear, Corey Locklear, Aaron C.
North Carolina, with one
Locklear and Charly Lowry spoke to Earth
member from Sampson
+ Sky at an outdoor festival in the fall. They
County. We’ve been friends
were excited to headline their own show and
for longer than the band’s
promote their music. Despite its nomination,
been around. Going back to
and new opportunities to play its music, the
elementary school for some
group remains grounded. Camping out in an
of us, middle school for
RV, wearing basketball shorts and T-shirts, PEGG
others and then college. We
/ALEX
the members of the group enjoy impromptu
PHOTO never thought of a band, it
jam sessions as much as performances under
just happened.
spotlights. The group’s music doesn’t neatly
fit into any genre – it pulls from the gospel Before a show at the Shakori Hills festival
in North Carolina, the members gather and
influences of neighborhood churches, rock
pray to prepare
sounds of a guitar and some traditional
Native American rhythms and chanting. Q: When and how did DWR form? Why did you
Group members say they’re open to trying
new things, as long as those new things sound
start the band?
good. And as its name implies, the band is A: In 2008 we started picking up instruments and playing around a little bit.
indeed rising. Without musical backgrounds We wouldn’t say we were a band until we named ourselves, and that took
and without the benefit of formal lessons, band about a year. We’d only been playing instruments period for about a year
members taught themselves to play piano, when Charly talked us into playing at UNC-Pembroke’s parents’ weekend.
drums and guitar and admit that each show We ended up playing 45 minutes and it turned out to be our first set. We
brings about improvements and changes in were trying a lot of things out that first set, like covers of songs and first
their songs. Their song “Hooked” is a great trials of new material. After that we started getting together and practicing
example. It appears on their website and the five or six days a week – and working hard on coming up with a name.
band’s catchy sound is likely to hook you, too.

Q: How did you come up with

the name?
A: We came up with the name in 2009. “Dark
Water” represents the area where we are from,
specifically the swamplands. There are a lot of
swamplands in Robeson County. The Lumbee
tribe is tied to the water, and are called the
people of the dark water because of the
swamps. We added the “Rising” on to the end
after a long time. We threw out a lot of names
before settling on DWR. It seemed like every
day somebody would come up with a bad idea.
One of the vetoed names was Dark Water Dirt
Legs. With all of other names someone had an
objection, but with “rising” everyone agreed.

WINTER+Spring 2011 65
 Q: What is the goal of your music?
Are you trying to promote a specific
message?
A: We wouldn’t say there’s a specific message. We say
what we need to say and touch on a lot of different
topics. The fact that we’re all Native Americans, a band
of tribal people, is kind of unique. We throw a mix in our
messages; each one of our songs is different. You can
hear the influences of where we’re from, especially the
gospel and soul. It’s always nice that people know we’re
Natives and out there. There are not many Natives who
do music in a nontraditional setting. We don’t go out
there pushing that message or agenda, but hopefully
people knowing who we are and getting interested
will come to find out what we’re about.

Q: How is your Native American

culture reflected in your music?
A: Well, first, there’s Aaron’s rhythms on the drums. We also use chants
throughout different parts of our shows. I love when we can incorporate
our Native influences, but only have it on a few songs, like “Brownskin.”
Other songs connect lyrically with our Native culture. The song “Open
Ceremony” touches on the natural side of things, which is very important
in Native culture. Other songs try to encourage Native Americans to come
together and stand strong as a people.

Q: Do you feel pressure to assimilate into

mainstream music genres like rock or pop?
A: We haven’t really crossed that road yet. We’re not really trying to be
a rock band or R&B, we just want to play good music. Even if someone
comes up with something that sounds country, but we like it, we’ll go
with it. We’re comfortable enough with each other as friends that we
are able to critique ideas. We make our songs the way we all like them,
and it makes our music better because we don’t settle until all six of
us think it sounds great. We’ve never sat down and said we’ve got to
sound more pop, or like this or that. We know we’re probably not
going to get the radio play, but that doesn’t really matter.

Q: Are there any pressures to adhere to

Native American stereotypes?
A: We’re very careful with that, actually. There’s definitely a thin
line with certain things. We try to make sure we don’t exploit
our culture. It’s hard because you’re walking a thin line between
two different spaces. We are not going to come out in regalia or
headdress, but we still support who we are through our music.
We’re a contemporary band and we just happen to be Native.
We’re definitely proud of our heritage but are never going to
use it in a way for monetary gain. We’re not even trying to
make “Native” music, either; it’s just good music.

66 Earth+Sky
 Q: What is the most exciting thing
about your self-titled album?
A: The fact that we finished it. We have a professionally recorded, mastered CD.
We’ve never had a record that we produced and were able to say “this is ours.”
We can present this to people and be proud of it. One guy was like, “Wow, this
is legit. It’s shrink-wrapped.” You see how much work and time you put into
it and it feels good to have it done as a good product with good music. We
went from not playing instruments to going to New York to perform at the
Native American Music awards in November.

Q: How does it feel to win a

Native American Music Award?”
A: Corey described the experience as surreal.
Aaron and I (Charly) went to the Nammys last
year and won best long or short form music
video. It was a good feeling to win, but this year
was different because we were able to perform
and come home with the award. So we felt like
we were a part of something bigger. We were
part of the production. We felt humbled by the
experience. It was exciting to bring the award
back home to everyone who voted and supported,
their votes made a difference. It was a lot of fun.
PHOTO/ALEX PEGG

(From Left) Ciera Dial Locklear, Charly Lowry and Brittany Jacobs
belt out soulful harmonies at an outdoor concert in North Carolina. In
November, Dark Water Rising took home the award for ‘Debut Duo or
Group of the Year.’

Q: Is there anything else you want

people to know?
A: We love what we do and want to share it with everybody
else. We want to flood the world with our music.

Q: What’s next for DWR?

A: We’re going to take a break to start working on
new music and a new performance set. We’ve got
two new songs now and we just need eight more.
We’re also looking forward to more opportunities
outside of North Carolina. Mini-tours would be
nice. We haven’t been on a full tour, but we’ve hit PHO
TO
/AL
North Carolina pretty hard,z and it’s been good. EX
PEG
G
We all have jobs during the week, so we’re looking
forward to the day when we can do this full-time.

WINTER+Spring 2011 67
 Powwows
then now
By Anna Norris
T
he steady and powerful rhythm of
the drums, like the heartbeat of
Mother Earth. The intricate and
colorful regalia of the dancers as
they spin around the circle. The passionate
voices of the singers as they sing both tradi-
tional and new songs. Family ties, friendship,
traditional foods and practices. This is what
powwows have always been about. But the
circumstances haven’t always been the same.
The origin of the very first powwows
remains uncertain. Some historians believe
the war dance gatherings of Southern Plains
tribes like the Ponca gave way to the tra-
ditional powwow. Other historians believe
that healing dances performed by medicine
68
and
men, observed by the first European explor-
ers in the 1600s, came first. Another possible
ancestor, Grass Dance Societies arose in the
early 1800s as a way for tribal warriors to
re-enact the bravery of their deeds for all
members of the tribe to witness.
“In general, powwows are everywhere in
the Plateau and the rest of Indian country,”
says Dr. Lillian Ackerman, an ethnographer
at Washington State University who special-
izes in Plateau Culture. “In the summer and
fall, there is one everywhere in the Plateau
on one reservation or the other.”
Elements of powwow culture have changed
to reflect modern life. Today, it’s not uncom-
mon for organizers of major powwows to
rent out convention centers, when a few
Earth+Sky
decades ago almost all powwows took place
outside. More and more powwow attendees
hunker down in hotels instead of camping
in tents and eat in restaurants instead of
cooking over fires. Past traditional powwows
were an event where everyone came to dance.
Powwows today often feature spectators who
come merely to watch, including an increase
in the non-Native audience.
But it is the music and the dancing that
has, and always will, supply the form, shape
and purpose of powwows.
One of the newer facets of powwow
dancing is the idea of the contest powwow.
Contest powwows hold competitions for dif-
ferent tribal dances and styles, often with
monetary prizes. There are both negative

Seafair Indian Days Powwow, Daybreak Star Cultural Center, Seattle, Wash. The event
is part of Seafair (a series of summer events in Seattle) and is held by the United
Indians of All Tribes Foundation.
and positive feelings about contest pow-
wows. There is the fear that the lure of cash
draws too many participants who are there
for winning, not dancing. However, contest
powwows are also praised for the pressure
they put on dancers to strive to build their
character, skills and knowledge of the dance,
regardless of the money factor.
Intertribal traditions are also an impor-
tant powwow issue. Dance traditions that
used to be tribally specific are now intertribal
traditions shared among dancers within spe-
cific dance categories. Such traditions some-
times conflict with the beliefs of participants
from another area or the community hosting
the powwow.
“Over the years the Plateau people have
Photos/wikimedia commons
adopted Plains- and Southwest-style danc-
ing, and most recently the grasslands danc-
ing in which women wear cylinders on their
clothing,” Dr. Ackerman says. “In Minnesota,
this was a form of grief for their dead, and
they have some reservations about it being
used [outside of] the Plateau.”
The Dakota Nation’s Oyaté powwows usu-
ally feature parents carrying their children
in their arms as they dance. At a powwow
held by the Ojibwé-Anishinaabé people, the
Oyaté would be reprimanded because the
Ojibwé believe the dance circle represents
the Path of Life where everyone leaves their
track or spiritual imprint. However, if the
parents carry their children while dancing
in the circle, it is believed the presence of
WINTER+Spring 2011
We need to
understand that
our traditions
represent
continuity
through
change, and
change through
continuity
the child prevents them from being able to
leave their own imprint.
Yet modernized powwows ensure all
Native people’s bonds will not be broken.
Songs that are danced to today at powwows
represent a deep collection of new songs, old
songs and revised songs that reflect cultural
changes.
“We need to understand that our tradi-
tions represent continuity through change,
and change through continuity,” writes
Robert DesJarlait, a Red Lake Ojibwé-Anishi-
naabé, in his article “The contest powwow
versus the traditional powwow and the role
of the Native American community.” “And
we need to understand this for ourselves, for
our children, and the coming generations.”
69
 A Haliwa-Saponi artist from North Carolina teaches
Native American history, one pot at a time.
By Laura Hoxworth Heritage award in 2007. When she isn’t working on

S
enora Lynch’s workspace doesn’t look like it
belongs to a nationally recognized, award-
winning artist. The small, ordinary kitchen
table, dusty with clay and cluttered with
tools and half-finished pots, is otherwise bare and
a little bit scratched. Sitting at this table, sometimes
up to 13 hours a day, Lynch makes all of her pottery
HOXWORTH
her pottery or traveling to bring her work to craft
shows around the country, she spends her time
teaching art and Native American culture at the
Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School in Hollister, N.C., and
other schools across North Carolina.
For Lynch, clay is not only her livelihood; it’s
also her heritage. A member of the Haliwa-Saponi

by hand. She rolls coils, smoothes them into pots,
carefully trims the edges with her favorite tool, a
snuff can lid, then carves designs freehand as they
come to her.
PHOTO/LAURA
tribe, one of eight state-recognized tribes in North
Carolina, Lynch grew up in Hollister, surrounded by
family and tribal culture. Her strong sense of pride
in the resilience and culture of her people is evident

Originally a fast food worker, Lynch quit her job
in 1992 and turned to pottery full-time with encour-
agement from friends and family. Today, she has
work displayed in museums across the country, such
as the Smithsonian Institution and the North Caro-
lina Museum of History. She has also won numerous
awards for her artwork, including the North Carolina
in the legends and stories that she weaves into all of
her artwork, and in the way she credits her success
to her background and the support of her husband
and daughter. Now, through her teaching and her
artwork, she hopes to give something back. Earth
+ Sky sat down with Lynch to talk about her work
and her inspiration.

Q: Was your Native American

heritage a big part of your
childhood?

I’ve always been involved in our tribal activities. Cultural

programs, singing at the powwows, doing our traditional
dances … growing up on the land and just hearing the old
stories and things that people believe in, it’s just … part of
who we are and how we were brought up. It’s almost like you
don’t divide it from the real world. It is who you are.

Q: Did you consider yourself artistic

as a child?

I grew up with my artwork. All my life, I’ve always done

something related to art. One of the first things I learned
how to do was weave chair bottoms with my grandfather. He
would weave baskets and do white oak splint chair bottoms,
so I started just hanging out with him. Then I began to do
beadwork, and then I moved into pottery. I always sewed. I
would sew little dresses for my dolls. I was always one of those
people … crafty, I guess you could say. Always doing something
with my hands. My sister, she swears that I could always sit
and work on my art and she always had to wash the dishes.

70 Earth+Sky
 Q: When did you become
specifically interested in pottery?
I was about 14 years old. There was a pottery room at
our tribal school, and the older women would sit in
there and make pottery. We would just go over there to
help them, and just watching their hands and watching
the movement … they would say, “Rub it like this,” and
“Smooth it off this way,” and “Don’t put too much water
there.” My granddad would also tell me about pottery
and how they would use different impressions and
textures on the pots for designs.
Q: What is your style of pottery
like?
My first pots didn’t look like they look now. They looked
like a clunk of mud, I guess. Over time, I think I just
developed this style – this is my own style of pottery. We
used to make pretty plain pots with corncob and rope
impressions, and do a design called a crawdad, using deer
bones to create the designs. Then I developed my own
style. I’ve had professors of art and people from Greece
who study pottery tell me they’ve never seen pottery like
mine, so I’ve sort of developed my own way of doing it.
Photo/Dal Lynch
Lynch
Photo/Dal
Lynch hand carves each piece with a unique pro-
cess where she applies two layers of white clay, then
carves away to create her designs.
WINTER+Spring 2011
Q: That’s really cool. What about
your style is so different?
Well, I think the flow of my designs, and the stories that
come through my ideas into my pottery. And I think
the way that I carve it twice – because I put several
layers on, then I carve away the design, then I go back
and carve in again. So I think that’s really what makes
it unique. And just my expression of the designs that I
put on there makes it different.
Q: What inspires your designs?
A: My designs are created through my dreams, a lot of
times, and old sayings, old ways of life. I do my designs
based on dances that we have in our tribe – the land,
animals, plants. I made a design inspired by a dance
called the robin dance, with the birds going up and
down – it represents the robin being the first bird to
come out in the springtime to let us know that the
weather is going to change. So we do a dance where
we go up and down, up and down, representing the
robin. It’s a lot of fun. I just come up with ideas. I’m
not really sure what’s going to go on each one until it’s
done. Sometimes I think I know what I’m going to put
on it, then all the sudden the piece of pottery will start
talking to me, I guess. I have had some that sat on the
shelf for a long time waiting for me to figure out what
design I really want to put on it.
Q: I know you also spend a lot
of time teaching. What kind of
teaching do you do?
A: I visit all grades really, K through 12, but fourth is
really my specialty. I teach them how we make pottery,
and I teach them about stories and legends. I also teach
pottery classes at the beginning of summer, and I’ve
been teaching at our tribal school about four years
now, beadwork and pottery. I love going to the schools.
71
 Q: What is it that you love so much
about teaching?

I think clay is magical. I think when kids get their hands

in clay, it’s just joy. You can mess it up and still have fun,
you know? I have pieces of pottery like the owl design,
and I teach them that they need to spend time with
older people to learn their stories and their wisdom
and knowledge. I have a piece called bearing gifts, and it
teaches that we all have gifts we can share. We have the
gift of unity, that we can work together. We have the gift
of charity, that we can help someone. We have the gift of
Traditional Native the heart, which is to have love. But I love the reaction of the
American symbols, such Photo/Dal Lynch
teachers, for one thing. I like the fact that they feel inspired
as turtles and corn, can be found and they have a way of looking at Native American culture a
on all of Lynch’s pieces. little bit differently than the way they grew up.

Q: Do you find that the younger kids

you teach know a lot about Native
American culture?

They’re getting better. I’ve been teaching in schools now about

10 years. From my first time going there to now, I can see
so much more that the teachers have begun to include. But
the kids still have a lot of stereotypes. It’s amazing. I don’t
know if they get it from TV or cowboy movies … but some of
them still have stereotypes of feathers and living in tepees
and things like that. But North Carolina has decided to make
American Indians part of the curriculum, which is great. So
I think they’re learning a lot more. But I think we have to be
really careful to teach that Indian people weren’t all killed
off. I think sometimes, with the wars that they teach about,
it makes kids think that we were all killed off. But just my
presence at the school teaches them that we’re still here. So
HOXWORTH

I kind of open their eyes to that.

Q: Do you think your pottery helps

PHOTO/LAURA

spread awareness about Native

American culture?

One thing my mom always told me, she said, “Always do

Lynch's designs are inspired by her Native
heritage, but she doesn't sketch them before-
hand or plan them out. Instead, she carves
them freehand as the ideas come to her.
something to help your people.” I think by going to the schools
and showing my work to the world at the fair and all the
different craft shows that I go to, I’m allowed to tell them our
history and at the same time show them our art. So yeah, part
of my job is to teach people about who we are. I often say that
the clay gave me a place to speak. It gave me an opportunity
to tell our story through the clay.

72 Earth+Sky
 Corn dogs, bean burritos and butternut squash soup
may grace different food categories, but their main
ingredients share common ground, literally and culturally
By Latisha Catchatoorian around the corn and beans. The shade from from traditional methods of hunting game

Y
ou’ve seen them in your local gro-
cery store, usually in the canned-
good aisle or the produce section.
They greet you with an array of
welcoming colors that span the rainbow.
And while easily recognized in dishes of all
types, shapes and sizes, their importance
typically goes unnoticed, as these Three Sis-
ters have helped sustain groups of people
for centuries.
The name originated with the Iroquois,
who gave the Three Sisters – corn, beans
and squash – this name because they grow
together in harmony. Corn and beans are
planted side-by-side so the bean vines can
wrap around the corn stalks as both flourish
and grow. Squash is planted in open areas
the large squash leaves at the base of the
plants locks moisture in the ground for the
corn and bean crops, making this a perfect
threesome.
This vegetable and legume trio has been
a staple of Native American diets for cen-
turies. Preparation of the Three Sisters in
recipes is not limited to a specific ethnic
cuisine. They are included in recipes for chili,
baked beans and bean soup, corn tortillas,
squash soufflé and more. Succotash is a
popular dish prepared with corn, beans and
vegetables, including squash and tomatoes.
But the tastiness of this trio is only part of
its importance to Native people.
The cultivation of crops such as the Three
Sisters expanded Native American lifestyle
and gathering food. Farming influenced
the development of semi-permanent and
permanent villages once agricultural fields
were established as early as 900-1000 A.D.
“They are seen as three beautiful sisters
because they grow in the same mound in a
garden,” says Shelia Wilson, a member of
the Sappony tribe and a demonstrator at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill American Indian Center’s Native Foods
Festival. “The corn provides a ladder for
the bean vine. The squash vines shade the
mound and hold moisture in the soil for
the corn and beans. The well-being of each
crop planted is protected by another. Many
a legend has been woven around the Three
Sisters – sisters who should be planted

74 Earth+Sky
 Corn plants provide
a means by which
beans can grow.
Bean vines climb the
stalks of the corn
as they flourish. In
Native American
culture, corn is com-
monly referred to as
maize.

There are many

types of beans,
such as the lima
(pictured), kidney,
pinto, black, navy,
red beans and more.
Beans provide the
needed protein
component in the
Three Sisters diet.

Squash, when
planted around the
bases of bean and
corn crops, provides
protection for the
plants as its low,
large leaves trap
moisture in the
soil and guard the
roots from ground
animals.

together, eaten together and celebrated
together.”
The story behind the Three Sisters varies
from tribe to tribe. The Sappony Three Sis-
ters, as told by Wilson, is a tale from the Sap-
pony tribe, which is located on the border of
Person County, N.C., and Halifax County, Va.
A Sappony woman with three daughters
could no longer bear the fighting among her
children. She asked the Creator to help her
stop the fighting. One night, she had a dream
in which each daughter was a different seed.
One was Squash, one was Bean, and one
was Corn. In her dream, she planted them
together in one mound and told them that
in order to thrive, grow and flourish, they
would have to acknowledge their differences
but also rely on each other for strength.
The next morning, she made each of them
an egg for breakfast. One was scrambled,
one was hard-boiled, and one was over-easy.
She told her daughters that these eggs rep-
resented them and their differences, each
with a different flavor and texture, but still
special. The daughters cried as they rec-
ognized their individual importance and
celebrated their differences and loved one
another because of them.
Tales of the Three Sisters working
together teach tribal values of acceptance,
dependence and reliance on other spirits of
creation, but the trio also works together to
provide a nutritious diet for Native Ameri-
cans and other people around the world.
Eating corn alone results in malnourish-
ment. Though it provides carbohydrates,
sugar and fiber, it lacks adequate protein.
Bodies need protein to be sustained. This
is where beans come in, as beans provide
amino acids and high levels of protein.
Squash is rich in fiber and vitamins.
Adding the Three Sisters to other meats
and vegetables created a healthier and more
dynamic diet for Native American people
long before the development of the food
pyramid by the United States Department
of Agriculture.
So the next time you take a bite of that
corn bread, spice up your taste buds with
some refried beans or dig into a squash cas-
serole, remember the Three Sisters. Your
bread, beans and casserole could all have
originated from crops sharing a spot in a
growing garden at last fall’s harvest.

WINTER+Spring 2011 75
 the HISTORY
By Kelsey Finn

T
hough its exact age is a mystery lost in oral as a method of stress management.
tradition, the Native American flute is con- “The Native American flute has a unique sound that’s
sidered the third-oldest musical instrument all its own,” Oitzman says. “While its design is most
in the world after the drum and rattle. similar to a recorder, the sound quality and expressive-
The flutes were traditionally used in different cer- ness of the Native American flute brings so much more
emonies, rituals, fertility rites and other meetings. But color to a song than a recorder.”
the most famous tradition was the use of the flute in One of the most famous Native American flautists
courting. As the story goes, a young man would create today is R. Carlos Nakai. Nakai has been nominated for
what was called a “love flute” that would invite a spirit four Grammy Awards, and two of his records, “Canyon
to inhabit it as he played. The spirit essentially acted as Trilogy” and “Earth Spirit,” have been RIAA certified
Cupid, carrying the man’s message of love through song Gold. They were two of the first Native American flute
to the woman of his choice. And after he won her heart, albums to achieve this.
the flute would be thrown away and never played again. Its purposes are widespread, and whether it’s used
While most of its traditional uses have faded, the for healing, yoga or romance, the Native American flute
flute is still used in many Native American ceremonies should be celebrated for its beautiful sound and history.
and for healing. Flute circles are also a popular way of
bringing people together. Several musicians, whether
they are Native American or simply enjoy playing the
Native American flute, gather to play in these ensembles.
“Flute circles are about providing a safe, open and
educational experience for playing the Native American
flute,” says Mike Oitzman, director of the Northern
California Flute Circle. “They’re a great opportunity
for newbies to get the chance to see and hear more
experienced flute players and the craftsmanship of the
many flute makers who are developing, expanding and
keeping this beautiful instrument alive.”
The first flutes began as whistles made of bone,
and as time went on, they were created from a
variety of materials including bamboo, river reeds,
cedar and other woods. Today, Native American flutes
are mostly made of cedar.
In the world of music, the Native American flute
has gradually achieved fame for its distinct sound. It
is used in a variety of folk and traditional music and in
New Age music, which is a genre of music intended to PHOTO/Mike Oitzman
create artistic inspiration, relaxation and optimism. It Unlike a traditional silver flute, the Native
is often used for yoga, massage, meditation and reading American flute is played in a vertical position.

76 Earth+Sky
 NATIVE AMERICAN
THE
FLUTE
the LEGEND
Adapted from Native Legends at merceronline.com
M
any generations ago, a young man went out
to hunt. He found the tracks of an elk and
followed them for a long time, and after
many hours, he finally sighted his game.
He was skilled with a bow and arrow, but the elk man-
aged to stay just out of range, leading him on and on.
The young man was so intent on following his prey
that he hardly noticed where he went, and when night
came, he found himself deep inside a thick forest. It
was too dark to find his way out. He leaned against a
tree and tried to rest, but he couldn’t sleep. The forest
was full of strange noises—and suddenly, there was
an entirely new sound, mournful and ghostlike. It
made him afraid, but at the same time, the sound was
like a song, sad but beautiful, full of love, hope and
yearning. Before he knew it, he fell asleep. He dreamed
that the redheaded woodpecker, wagnuka, appeared,
singing the strangely beautiful song and telling him,
WINTER+Spring 2011
“Follow me, and I will teach you.”
When the hunter awoke, the sun was already high,
and on the tree, he saw a redheaded woodpecker. The
bird flew away to another tree and then to another, but
never very far, looking back all the time at the young
man as if to say, “Come on!” At last, it landed on a ce-
dar tree and began hammering on a branch. Suddenly,
there was a gust of wind, and again the hunter heard
that beautiful sound. Then he realized that the song
came from the dead branch where the woodpecker
hammered his beak. The wind made the sound as it
whistled through the holes the bird had drilled.
“Kola, friend, let me take this branch home,” the
hunter said. “You can make yourself another.” He took
the branch and walked back to his village. And in his
tepee, the young man tried to make the branch sing
for him. He blew on it and waved it around, but no
sound came. He climbed to the top of a hill to fast,
going without food or water for four days and nights,
crying for a vision that would tell him how to make
the branch sing. In the middle of the fourth night, the
bird appeared, saying, “Watch me.” It turned into a
man and showed the hunter how to make the branch
sing, and in his dream, the young man watched and
observed very carefully.
When he awoke, he found a cedar tree. He broke
off a branch and hollowed it out with a bowstring
drill. He whittled the branch into the shape of the
bird and painted the top of the bird’s head with wa-
shasha, the sacred red color. He smoked the branch
with incense of burning sage, cedar and sweet grass.
He fingered the holes as he had seen the man-bird do
in his vision and blew softly into the mouthpiece. All
at once, there was the song, ghostlike and beautiful,
drifting all the way to the village, where the people
were astounded and joyful to hear it. With the help
of the wind and the woodpecker, the young man
brought them the first flute.
77

game, according to the legend. In Haude-
nosaunee tradition, the game was taught
to instill a value in others, regardless of
what they may appear to offer. In addition
to valuing others, lacrosse is supposed to
be played with integrity, as the Haudeno-
saunee use it to please their Creator. “We
are taught that the game is a gift from
our Creator so that any time you play you
should play with a good heart and a clear
mind,” Schindler says. Medicinal healing
is also woven into the cultural significance
of lacrosse for the Haudenosaunee. Play-
ers and community members can call for
medicinal games to be played, and they
say that healing is found when they are
played. Few details of the medicinal game
are offered because it is considered sacred.
“The game of lacrosse is thought to be a
medicine for our people, and we want to be
stewards for the game and for our people,”
Jemison says.
Because the game is so connected to
the culture of the Haudenosaunee, play-
ing as representatives of the Haudeno-
saunee carries extra weight. “Whenever
you play lacrosse, more so when you play
for team Iroquois, you’re going to have that
sense of pride and wear your heart on your
sleeve and play to the best of your ability,”
Schindler says. And because the game is
very popular among the Haudenosaunee,
those who play for the Nationals are not
only role models for their tribes, but also
are celebrities. “These are the Michael Jor-
dans of our community,” Jemison says.
“They are the guys our kids look up to.”
Because of their esteem in the community,
their strong stance during the passport
dispute held significance for the identity of
the entire Haudenosaunee nation.
Sovereignty
The relationship between the United
States and Native peoples who were
already here is murky. Karla General,
staff attorney for the Indian Law Resource
Center and a Haudenosaunee Indian,
says that the traditional classification
78
Continued from page 30
passport to nowhere
of Native tribes as “domestic dependent
nations” is no longer accurate, but that
the current relationship is not clearly
explicit. “They don’t really use that to
define us anymore,” she says. “Right now
they are in a government-to-government
era of federal-Indian law relations.” She
also defined sovereignty as the capacity
to self-determine culturally, economically
and socially in order to ensure survival.
This sovereignty, General admits, often
doesn’t fit with how the tribes are able
to conduct business.
She cited the Major Crimes Act, which
has been in effect since 1885, as an exam-
ple of the reduction in tribal sovereignty.
The act takes away tribal jurisdiction of
15 specific crimes, if they are committed
on Native lands. The struggle for recogni-
tion as a nation has also been a long, hard-
fought one. General’s great grandfather, a
man named Deskaheh, traveled in 1923
to Switzerland on a Haudenosaunee pass-
port. He traveled to the League of Nations
to champion indigenous people’s rights.
Refused re-entry into Canada after his visit
in Europe, Deskaheh was forced to stay with
friends in New York State. General says the
Canadian government refused to accept
his Haudenosaunee passport because he
was set to protest the ousting of his tribal
government by the Canadian one. “He died
on the U.S. side,” she says. “That was 87
years ago, and they still haven’t decided
the procedure for how they’re going to deal
with us.”
Going back to the 1600s, treaties estab-
lish the Haudenosaunee as an independent
and sovereign people. Hill says that when
the United States declared all indigenous
people within the borders of the country
to be citizens, the Haudenosaunee imme-
diately sent a letter to Washington refusing
that claim. “We as Haudenosaunee have
always regarded ourselves as Haudeno-
saunee, not American, not Canadian,” he
says. The Guswhenta, or Two Row wampum
agreement, between the Dutch and the
Mowhawks established the ground by which
Earth+Sky
the Haudenosaunee people claim sover-
eignty in their relations with other nations.
“The history that we have has always been
between two sovereigns,” Hill says.
Recognition by the Federation of Interna-
tional Lacrosse gave the Iroquois the ability
to resist assimilation on the field and com-
pete as the sovereign entity they already
view themselves as. Because of this recogni-
tion, and their self-ascribed autonomy, the
option to carry a U.S. or Canadian passport
to travel on was not an option for some.
Abrams says that while some of the players
do carry American or Canadian passports
others do not, and have no desire to do so.
“The team is established by the Six Nations
Confederacy, which is representing them as
an international team,” Abrams says. “As an
international team, we’re going to use their
documents – that’s our identity.”
Players, too, saw the use of the Haude-
nosaunee passports an identity issue. Their
pride as an international team is overshad-
owed by their pride as a people, and it is
their Haudenosaunee identity that defines
them. Refusal to back down on the issue
garnered both praise and criticism, but the
team stands by the decision. “I think it’s
very important that we stand our ground
and fight for the fact that we are Haudeno-
saunee people and have the right to travel
on our own passport,” Schindler says.
“We’ve been doing it for years.” For the
team, the inability to travel only intensi-
fied their sense of identity as a sovereign
people. Support from tribes across the
United States came to the team praising
team members for their refusal to minimize
their identity by adopting other passports
for travel. “We weren’t just Iroquois people
then,” Jemison says. “We were representing
all Native people.” Members of the team
felt that accepting an offer of expedited
U.S. passports would have been accepting
a blow to their identity. “By doing that we
would have compromised ourselves and our
sovereignty,” Jemison says. He added that
expressing sovereignty through the mainte-
nance of culture and travel is an important
way to give Native people a voice. “We are
not a fully conquered people,” Jemison says.
“We still speak our native language, we are
still upholding our traditions, and we’re
continuing to go on as a people. We don’t
want to fully assimilate.”
Future
To make sure that the team, and all
Haudenosaunee, won’t have to assimilate,
work is being done to upgrade the current
of Autonomous Chapters, it was difficult
to put a finger on what the actions of AIM
had won the Native American community.
“One of the reasons that it’s remembered
the way it is now is it gained so much noto-
riety by virtue of its press coverage,” Cobb
says. “So a lot of people think that AIM is
solely represented by ’60s activism. And it
isn’t. But it is in people’s minds because it
speaks to stereotypes we have – real activ-
ism is militant, real Indians are out at Pine
Ridge occupying hamlets – and that’s just
not the case.”
An Intangible Legacy
Although most Native Americans could
agree that AIM left a profound impact on
their lives and communities by the late
1970s, most also couldn’t articulate just
what that impact was.
“You can’t look at very many tangible
things and say ‘AIM did that,’” Cobb says.
“But in terms of contributing to shifts in
policy or pushing people to act legislatively in
ways they might not have without that kind
of pressure, I think you can say that AIM did
that. But this larger issue they’re hinting at
is a feeling. And you can’t quantify a feeling,
but what we do know is that AIM was really
important in terms of motivating people to
take pride in being Native and to act on it by
engaging in a lot of local community kinds
of things that didn’t get attention.”
Kidwell believes that while AIM may not
have been directly responsible for outright
identification cards and passports. Cur-
rently, the passports are partially handwrit-
ten and do not have security features such
as holograms or machine readable texts,
which are harder to duplicate. “We have
enlisted the help of Siemens [AG] to pro-
duce upgraded identification documents
for us,” Hill says. Upgraded identification
cards will ensure ease of travel across land
borders between the United States and
Canada, and Hill says the passports are
Continued from page 38
more than a feeling
victories for Native American civil rights, it
was responsible for inspiring other groups
to take over, groups that had the power to
make changes.
“AIM played one role in public awareness,
but I think that there were other organiza-
tions that were coming to the fore, and they
were learning the ropes of things like politi-
cal lobbying,” Kidwell says. “People became
aware, but they were also gaining skills of
how to capitalize on that attention and work
their way through the political system.”
Kidwell also cites the abandonment of
termination policy in 1970 by Richard
Nixon – the idea that the federal govern-
ment was going to terminate its relation-
ships with all Indian tribes – as a sort of
sea change in government policy. This was
furthered by the passage of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance
Act of 1975, which allowed government
agencies to enter into contracts with and
make grants to federally recognized tribes,
giving the tribes more control over funding
that affected their welfare.
“Changes in the BIA followed these
political victories for Native Americans,”
Kidwell says. “The wheels of government
grind exceedingly fine and exceedingly slow,
but they do grind. And I think AIM was an
important catalyst to get that system going
down the right path.”
Joe Liles, a retired teacher at the North Caro-
lina School of Science and Math who taught
at the Red School House in St. Paul, Minn., an
WINTER+Spring 2011
being upgraded to meet global standards,
including measures like radio-frequency
identification tags.
Politics are impacting the future of the
passports. “The political side is to ulti-
mately ensure that our passports are going
to work, that they are going to continue
to allow our citizens to travel across US
borders, as well as all other international
borders,” Hill says. “It’s not just U.S. rec-
ognition. It’s global recognition.”
AIM survival school from 1972-1974, agrees.
“I think it’s really important that AIM’s
message of recognition of Indian treaty
rights, preservation of Indian culture and
the fostering of Indian pride has been
decentralized today,” Liles says.
“National Indian newspapers, Indian cen-
ters in various urban locations, National
Congress of American Indians, the National
Indian Education Association and pow-
wows have stepped in to fill this advocacy
role. And almost every state in the union
has an organization like this to represent
Indian people. AIM may have played a role
in bringing these institutions like these into
existence, or at least AIM’s agenda stimu-
lated these developments faster than they
would have taken place without the push
that AIM made.”
In 1971, AIM opened the K-12 Heart of
the Earth Survival school in Minneapolis,
Minn., to teach Indian values and cultures,
which has spawned a number of offshoot
schools, many of which survive to this
day. The end of AIM also saw a number of
other activist groups form such as Women
of All Red Nations and Native American
Traditions, Ideals, Values Educational Soci-
ety (NATIVE), a sign that Native peoples
wouldn’t let the lessons learned from AIM
go unutilized. AIM may no longer be a pow-
erhouse rallying point for Native Americans,
but the web of support and Native pride it
taught its people to value shows no signs
of unraveling anytime soon.
79
 STORYTELLER’S CORNER:
EARTH +SKY connects the tale with the teller
By Alex Linder
Coming out of the mystical Great Smoky Mountains, Cherokee
stories were never meant to be digested and quickly forgotten
like the short stories of today. They were part of a society with-
out writing that relied on its oral culture and its storytellers.
Tribe members heard the same story told over and over again.
It’s like going to see a concert by your favorite musician. Sure,
you’ve listened to the songs a million times, but it is only then
that you are able to appreciate the special qualities of the unique
performance, hanging on to the meaning behind every improvi-
sation and inflection.
Of all the characters in Native American folklore, the Trickster
is the most notorious. Always looking for a way to get ahead, the
Trickster plays pranks on the high and mighty, plotting to steal
their wealth, food or wives. The Trickster is always scheming, is
often getting caught, but is never remorseful. Trickster stories
have delighted young and old for centuries, making anything
seem possible. In the Cherokee culture, the Rabbit is the trickster.

Why the P ssum’s

Tail is Bare
T
Traditional he Possum used to have a long,
Cherokee story bushy tail and was so proud of
taken from it that he combed it out every
“The Myths of morning and sang about it at the
the Cherokee,”
a collection of
dance, until the Rabbit, who had had no tail
Cherokee myths, legends since the Bear pulled it out, became very
and folklore transcribed jealous and made up his mind to play the
by the late 19th cen- Possum a trick.
tury ethnologist James There was to be a great council and a
Mooney, who lived for
several years with the
dance at which all the animals were to be
Cherokee. present. It was the Rabbit’s business to
send out the news, so as he was passing
the Possum’s place, he stopped to ask him
if he intended to be there. The Possum said
he would come if he could have a special
seat, “because I have such a handsome tail
that I ought to sit where everybody can see
me.” The Rabbit promised to attend to it
and to send someone to comb and dress the
Possum’s tail for the dance, so the Possum
was very much pleased and agreed to come.
Then the Rabbit went over to the
Cricket, who is such an expert hair cutter
that the Indians call him the barber, and
told him to go next morning and dress
the Possum’s tail for the dance that
night. He told the Cricket just what
to do and then went on about
some other mischief.
In the morning the Cricket
went to the Possum’s house
and said he had come to get
him ready for the dance. So the
Possum stretched himself out and
shut his eyes while the Cricket
combed out his tail and wrapped a red
string around it to keep it smooth until
night. But all this time, as he wound the
string around, he was clipping off the hair
close to the roots, and the Possum never
knew it.
When it was night, the Possum went to
the townhouse where the dance was to be
and found the best seat ready for him, just
as the Rabbit had promised. When his turn
came in the dance he loosened the string
from his tail and stepped into the middle
of the floor.
The drummers began to drum and the
Possum began to sing, “See my beautiful
tail.” Everybody shouted and he danced
around the circle and sang again, “See what
a fine color it has.” They shouted again
and he danced around another time, sing-
ing, “See how it sweeps the ground.” The
animals shouted more loudly than ever,
and the Possum was delighted. He danced
around again and sang, “See how fine the
fur is.” Then everybody laughed so long that
the Possum wondered what they meant.
He looked around the circle of animals
and they were all laughing at him. Then he
looked down at his beautiful tail and saw
that there was not a hair left upon it, but
that it was as bare as the tail of a lizard.
He was so much astonished and ashamed
that he could not say a word, but rolled
over helpless on the ground and grinned,
as the Possum does to this day when taken
by surprise.

82 Earth+Sky
 Lloyd Arneach is a Cherokee storyteller. An enrolled
member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, he has traveled around
the country to events telling the traditional stories of his people, as well
as modern stories. He has performed for schools, universities, libraries,
museums, historical societies and civic groups. Arneach’s performances
combine history and humor. He conducts workshops on Native American
storytelling and seeks to build appreciation of Native American culture
and what the stories mean to the cultures from which they grew.

Why do you tell stories? How do you make these stories

It’s not the thing I set out to do. I came to the Land
of Storytelling Festival in January of 1990 as a his-
torian. I was asked to share the stories of my people.
I found out I enjoyed it so much that by word of
mouth people were asking me to come and share
stories. The stories come from those told to me by
my two uncles on the reservation.
come alive to your audience?
For me, I am always in the story. When I’m telling “Why the
Possum’s Tail is Bare,” I see Possum dancing proudly, and I
can see Rabbit looking on in delight knowing what’s going
to happen. So, I’m basically relating to the audience what I
see in the story. This keeps the story fresh for me, no matter
how many times I tell the story. I’m in the story, and it is
fresh for me, instead of just reciting words.

What is it about the old

stories that you think
remains important today?
They have so many lessons in the stories. In the
old days, if a child misbehaved, an elder would
take them aside and share a story with them, and
in that story is a lesson about how they should
behave. The same story could be used in differ-
ent age groups, and really they don’t stop being
relevant as you grow old. Then, it would just be
used just for entertainment, but they liked to hear
them told time and time again.
What is the purpose of trickster
stories?
The trickster varies depending on what tribe. Among the
Cherokee, the rabbit is the trickster. Basically, he’s like
the used car salesman. When he’s doing a deal with you,
you have to look at it from all sides to see – what was the
hook; what was his gimmick? You really had to be very
aware when you’re dealing with Rabbit. Now these stories
are entertaining. In the old days, we used them both for
entertainment and teaching.

Do you think we all have this ability to Do you find that every one of
become storytellers? your performances is different?
Yes, I do believe so. I was sharing with a group of teenagers, and when
I finished, I turned to a young Cree Indian girl from Canada and I asked
her, “Do you know any of the old stories of your people?” She shook her
head and said no. I thought a moment and then said, “Do you know any
of the stories of your people?” Again, she shook her head and said, “I don’t
have any stories to tell.” Then I thought a moment and asked her, “What
is your most memorable experience?” She was quiet for a moment or two,
and then she told a story.
We were all quiet for a while, and then I said, “You have stories to tell,
but you don’t realize it. You all have stories to tell, but perhaps you don’t
realize that, either.”
Yes, because I may tell the same story in four dif-
ferent performances, and the wording in that story
is going to be different. I tell people, if you want to
hear the same story every time, the same way, get a
CD of the story, and you’ll hear it the same way. If
you want it to be the same, read it in a book. What I
do is different. That’s the art of storytelling, to make
the story live for people.

To learn more about this storyteller,

check out his website at:
http://www.arneach.com/.

WINTER+Spring 2011 83